Naruhina Month
by NaniMok
Summary: Naruhina Month one-shots.
1. New Year, New Beginnings

******Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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**Day 1 - New Year, New Beginnings**

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Hinata was running out of time. Proposals kept coming at left and right and as hard as she could, the Hyuga elders were becoming impatient at her indecisiveness. They were so displeased with their heir's current matrimonial status that they have begun tampering with her mission involvements. She has noticed that her missions were becoming few and few. Although Tsunade had managed to avoid answering Hinata when she inquired if it were the work of her elders, Hinata knew. Tsunade's begrudging reactions only confirmed it in her mind. Why send Hinata, they would say to the Konoha elders, when you can send Neji? The best man for the job. If the Konoha elders ordered so, it would be hard, almost unreasonable, Hinata thought bitterly, for Tsunade to decline.

That was how she found herself beside a stranger on New Year's eve. She debated if she should decline his offer for marriage now later during the countdown. Hinata wanted to do it now but thought it too cruel. It had only been five minutes since they left the compound. It would be a unsatisfactory declinement and her proposer would not take it too seriously. On the other hand, declining later on would leave her proposer too gloomy to enjoy the fireworks and countdown to the new year. Hinata didn't want to be anyone's reason to be sad on New Year's eve. She could decline after the countdown. No, that would be a bit cruel, leading him on by sharing a special moment on entering a new year side by side only to decline later on.

So confusing. Maybe she could leave him to Ino's experienced hands. She didn't want to be too cruel to her proposer however.

"Something wrong Hinata-san?" Her proposer asked.

Hinata snapped out of her thought to shake her head and smile at him. What was his name? Kenichi? or was it just Ken?

As if reading her expression, his lips twitched to say, "it's Kenichi."

Hinata's cheeks heated. "I'm sorry, Kenichi-san. I'm just a bit distracted."

"It's alright." His kindness only made her feel guiltier for not giving him the smallest courtesy of remembering his own name.

As they walked down the street riddled with bustling people, Hinata admitted to herself that her companion was quite handsome. Wearing a pristine white yukata, the soft glow of the lanterns only highlighted his dark and straight locks. His green eyes were warm as he looked up at the stars. He was a pleasant view for her eyes but her heart was not content. Where he was black, she wanted yellow. Where he was green, she wanted blue. Where he was white, she wanted a warm, vibrant and vivid orange. But the chances of her heart getting what it wanted was slim. So she settled to walk beside someone else on New Year's eve.

"May I say something?" Kenichi inquired.

"Of course, Kenichi-san," Hinata dutifully replied. "Please, do not hesitate to speak freely."

They passed Ichiraku's Ramen bar and Hinata wanted to activate her bloodline just to see if Naruto were there. She did turn her head however and she could see that there was no vivacious blond lingering the bar. Kenichi, however, followed her line of sight.

"I know for a fact that your elders are hounding you to get married."

Hinata frowned slightly. "I would not say hounding, merely persistent."

Hounding was the right word but she did not feel too comfortable with him yet to discuss such things about her elders in great detail.

"Yes. Persistent is the right word." They stopped by a bench and decided to observe a group of kids playing with lanterns.

"People like us, Hinata-san-" they both smiled as laughter chortled out of the group, "-we don't have the luxury of time in our hands."

"We are lucky that we are able to lead our lives they way we wanted to, to an extent." Kenichi turned to face the shops they just passed and Hinata saw his eyes turn glassy. "But in the end we have a duty to our clan. In the end, we are not as free as we had thought."

The air was silent between as each thought upon his words. Hinata would agree with him but the simple fact was, she had never felt truly free in the first place. A caged bird without a seal. That was one way she would describe herself.

"I could get used to Konoha." Kenichi then placed his hand over hers. "And I could get used to having you as a wife. Please consider my proposal."

Hinata wanted to feel warmth from his proposal but she instead felt sympathetic for him because she knew. She knew exactly how he felt. So she put her hand on top of his to give him some type of comfort. "Does she know you love her?"

Kenichi gave her a soft smile. "He knows."

Hinata had not expected that but she felt more sympathetic for him. The shinobi world was a stubborn and cruel one. Change was not something it would embrace for a very long time. She only squeezed his hand to continue giving him support.

He laughed in return. "Look at me trying to propose only to be comforted instead. You really are a gem Hinata-san."

He let go of her hand and returned to his lap. "So I'm guessing this is a no."

"Kenichi-san," Hinata began, "you are by far the most honest and compatible man that have offered for my hand but I must decline. I'm sorry but I can't marry you."

Kenichi only smiled at her softly. "I understand."

Hinata felt quite sad to decline to his proposal and she had actually begun to enjoy his company as a person. It was made quite awkward by the proposal but Hinata still quite enjoyed his company.

"This does not mean that you have to leave Konoha immediately," Hinata stated, "Please stay for a couple of days. I very much enjoyed your company and hoped we can continue to be friends."

Kenichi began to open his mouth in reply but before he could reply, someone yelled from behind them, "Duck!"

Immediately they ducked and something sailed past their heads from the bushes. It landed with a thud and exploded and grey gas began wafting around them. Before long Hinata's eyesight was consumed with grey and Kenichi quickly became a silhouette in the darkness.

Hinata only had time to cough once before her feet were swept under her. Water pricked her eyes and she reached to weave her hands near the solidest thing she could feel. Without her knowledge her kidnapper jumped onto the nearest trees and began to run like his life depended on it.

"I'm sorry about the smoke bomb Hinata," Naruto apologised, "But I'll get you some water when we get to the training grounds-ttebayo."

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's breath caught in her throat. Or maybe it was her hair that was slashing against her face at the wind's command.

He leapt off a particularly high tree and time itself decided to slow down. They floated in the air. His banana coloured spikes she loved so much flared freely around his head, matching her look. The bluest eyes that only he could have glinted and the moon's silhouette caressed the whisker marks on his cheek as his grin stopped her heart from beating."The one and only."

Her cheeks were red but so were his. Her eyes couldn't blink because she never wanted to forget this moment. She wanted to be able to remember this moment forever.

This was a dream. This had to be a dream. Hinata decided it was a dream. No way she could be in Naruto's company for this long without fainting.

Hinata was so lost in him that she did not notice when they reached their destination. She was pleasantly surprised to feel the soft picnic matt brushing against her fingers underneath and in front of them was a picnic basket. A singer red lantern radiated between them. But everything was forgotten when she felt both of his hands enclosed hers.

"Hinata, please look at me."

She forgot that she had been too busy blushing and looking at everything else but him. She looked up and noted the glow of the village square behind him. Mostly she was focusing on his eyes. It was looking straight at her, full of things she couldn't really recognise.

"Hinata, listen to me-ttebayo." Naruto sounded a bit panicked. "Hinata you can't, can't, can't accept his proposal."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "W-what do you m-mean, Naruto-kun?"

"I meant what I said." Naruto squeezed her hands a bit tighter. "Hinata you cannot accept his marriage proposal. You have to turn him down."

It took a moment for her to process his words but when she did, she could only think, Oh.

Frustration and bitterness swelled in her."What d-do you me-mean I can't accept it? J-just because you said s-so?"

"Well…" Naruto frowned a bit. "Yeah, kinda."

Hinata felt her hands go limp in his. She felt her anger bubble inside of her but struggled to keep it contained. The nerve of him. Bouncing her feelings around like a shuriken on a string. She was getting sick of it. She failed to tug her hands out of his but her tugs grew increasingly forceful with each thug bringing her frustration and anger to the fore.

"I-I'm not going to dec-cline because you said s-so," she bit out, "I'm g-going to d-decline because I w-want to. P-please let g-go of my hands, Naruto-kun."

"No, no, that's not really what I meant-ttebayo!" Naruto refused to let her hands go. "It's just that you can't accept him and go off to get married!"

"I c-can if I w-want to!," she asserted in her quiet way. Oh goodness, she was beginning to cry. She wanted to cry but her pride would not let the tears fall. She couldn't help her lips from trembling though. She didn't know why but it felt like Naruto was rejecting her all over again.

"Oh god, now you're crying, I'm screwing this up. Please don't cry-ttebayo. Hinata please, don't cry."

"Naruto-kun, ple-ease l-let go of my hand." A shuddered plea.

"Hinata I-"

"Naruto-kun." They both held their breath. That one breath, exasperated, frustrated, weakened told him everything. About how he hurt her when he didn't reply to her confession at during Pain's invasion. About how he hurt her when he let her continue to think that he loved Sakura. About how he was hurting her each day that they didn't discuss and clear up what was between them.

She swallowed her tears, held them at bay, knowing that a few tears had already escaped. Hinata squeezed her heart to gather the last drop of her strength. Looking up, she met the cerulean eyes that made her so happy yet caused her so much pain all at once. Her voiced dropped to a whisper. "Naruto-kun, please. Let go of my hands."

Naruto looked at her and his eyes dropped to the tears trailed down her cheek. He didn't want her to cry. He didn't wasn't worth crying over to anyone, especially her. His voice low, remorseful. "That's just it Hinata-ttebayo. I can't. I just can't."

Hinata kept quiet but her gaze fell to the lantern between them, hoping the tiny heat it tingled could warm her. Despite the turmoil which brew inside her, she couldn't help but savour the feel of his hands. Calloused, worn but hot. They were like Naruto in a way when she thought about it.

Taking a huge gulp of air, Naruto squeezed her hands as he began. "Hinata I can't let you go. It sometimes makes me confused why I can't but when I think about you leaving Konoha, or worse, leaving me, my hands go all clammy and my stomach churns and I just, I just don't want to think about it, ya know? I just don't want to think about you getting married."

Hinata tried to control the hope that grew inside her at hearing a stray frantic note in his rough tone.

"But I've been messing around this for too long-ttebayo. And-and I can really see me being an idiot and messing around this ended up hurting you and making you cry." Hinata felt him let go one of his hands and gently wipe her tears away. She didn't realise how she had lost grip of her tears and put on the waterworks. It didn't matter now. What mattered was Naruto's fingers was touching-no, stroking her cheeks.

"So I'm going to clear it up now."

Naruto swallowed slowly and let go of her other hand but his fingers lingered on her cheek longer than necessary before he did something that surprised her. He took off his head band and began undoing hers around her neck as well. Her cheeks flushed red and she scolded herself at blushing at a time like this but she couldn't help it. She swore she saw a tint of red on Naruto's cheeks as well. His fingers fumbled her headband free off her neck before he began tying his headband in it's place.

"Naruto-kun, I can't wear th-"

"Hinata," Naruto interrupted, "Let me do this for you."

He continued tying it before he cleared his throat to speak. "It was Iruka-sensei's before mine-ttebayo. He gave me his because they ran out when I graduated. It's pretty beat up and scratched but it was perfect in my eyes. The headband's special to me, Hinata, and so are you."

Hinata's froze. Did he really just say that? Did he really?

Off to the village the crowd's chanting reached them. Their exuberant cheers told that the final moments of the year began. Unperturbed by the countdown, Naruto tied her headband around his before taking both her hands in his and scooting closer to her.

"I'm not good with love and I'm not easy to love. I've only just started straightening out my life, I'm not ready for marriage and it scares me that someone out there loves me. I don't want to disappoint you neither can I let you go.."

Her heart threatened to burst. She moved closer to him instinctively. His warmth, his need, his vulnerability drew her in like no other.

"Then I realised, I don't want to let you go." Naruto's eyes were shining with emotion. She couldn't look away. "Hinata, I don't know how to love but I can learn. Especially with you, you're special, no, precious to me."

Naruto then took this chance to brush his lips against her for only a precious moment and rest his forehead on top of her. The coolness felt by her forehead touching her old headband contrasted to the burn he left on her lips. He was so close to her. Her eye saw nothing but him.

"So please Hinata," Naruto's beg was only a whisper against her lips, "wait for me. Hold them off for a bit longer and wait for me and I'll promise to make it worth it."

In the last seconds of the ending year, she knew her answer. It was the same answer which had nestled in her heart for so long. After all, when it came to him, nothing ever really changes.

Hinata pressed her lips against him as hard as she could and melted. In the chapped warmth, she felt the happiest she had ever been. Fireworks exploded in the sky behind them but she only felt the ones that sparked between them.

Had Naruto been anybody else it would have been easier to walk away; it would have cut her inside and she would have bled, but she would have undeniably taken the steps needed to walk away. But had it been anybody else but Naruto, she wouldn't have loved them as much anyway. In Naruto, she really believed she could find the happiness she longed for. She held his precious headband, held a precious place with him and one day, she might hold his precious heart. That she promised to herself and she never went back on her word, much like him.

They broke apart gasping for a breath but keep their hands and foreheads together before a giggle escaped from his lips. And she giggled too. At their inexperience. At this bubbling happiness. At this madness which threatened to consume her but she didn't mind.

She raised one hand and pressed it against her lips, whispering, "I will always wait for you."

And he smiled.

It was a new year and between them, a new and bright beginning.


	2. Cooking

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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**Day 2 - Cooking**

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"Hinata! The pot's making strange noises again!"

Hinata sighed at Naruto's booming, albeit a bit frantic, voice. Naruto balanced himself on one foot at arm's length while holding out a wooden spoon, poking at it, as if the pot was going to grow legs, stand up, walk around the kitchen and decided to swallow him. Hinata thought that delegating the stirring to Naruto was a good idea. She now know new it was not.

"I said stop it you stupid pot! Stop grumbling so much!"

"It's just boiling, Naruto-kun." She blithely slapped the his hand to release the spoon. "Off now with you. Stop harassing the pot and go help decorate the cupcakes."

"But I want to help," Naruto whined. He stuck his bottom lip and made it trembled. He widened his eyes and being the great ninjutsu expert he was, he summoned tears into the corners of his eyes as he looked at Hinata.

Hinata only one perfectly arched brow.

"Pretty please Hinata can I help you?" Naruto toned childishly.

"No."

He looked on the verge of breaking down and swimming in his tears.

"No."

He proceed to go down on his knees and dragged himself to her all the while pleading.

"No."

Pulling out his ultimate attack, he bit his thumb and slammed it at the ground. White smoke rose and obscured her vision. When it dissipated, a short, wrinkly frog with a cape stood on Naruto's shoulders with his hands clasped together. Eyes huge and shining, lips also out and trembling, they both begged while Naruto took one of her hand and kissed it.

Hinata hesitated. Naruto knew he won. "Fine. You can slice the vegetables that will go into the stew.."

"Yay. Let's go Fukasaku." With a happy jump, the fox jinchuuriki stole a kiss off her lips and pranced towards the cutting board while Hinata shook her head.

"I hope you're giving me my treat Naruto-boy. That was hard work." She heard the frog say.

"I will, I will. Hinata's cupcakes are to die for."

"I don't know what's more shameful." Peering from his book, Kakashi's lazy eye slanted in disapproval. Beside him sat Asuma Junior, happily throwing sprinkles on top of his cupcakes with gusto. "Using a summoning jutsu like that or that you fell for it."

"Naruto-kun's excited so I can't turn him down." Hinata then strode towards them to contemplate the cupcakes they were decorating on the table. "Now how are the decorating going? Why is your one undecorated, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi didn't answer. Instead he took chocolate button and placed it right on top of the cupcakes. "There. All done."

Patting himself on the back mentally, Kakashi agreed to himself that the simplest things in life are the most beautiful ones. He saw this as his work of art.

All Hinata saw was a plain cupcake with one chocolate button on top.

But she moved on. She was pleased that Asuma Jr. was having a great time decorating cupcakes. Being almost four years old, his fingers itched to smear anything he could get his hands on now and she had offered to babysit him on while Kurenai went shopping with the others. It was Kurenai-sensei's birthday today and she had offered to cook for them when Konoha's 12 and Kurenai's friends came and celebrated. Tonights dinner meant everything to her. The make or break of the night would be in her cooking. Coming home from a busy day is worth everything if they came home to a delicious meal. She couldn't let them down. She would make her food absolutely sublime. She would not fail.

"Uh, Hinata. There are fires burning in your eyes."

"Let her be, Naruto." Kakashi said offhandedly. "It's her 'passion of youth' and what-not."

Squinting his eyes at her, Naruto made a mental note to check if she was sick but continued chopping anyway.

Hinata then moved on to Asuma Jr. "Hello Asuma, what are you making?"

Asuma held up his cupcake and puffed out his chest in pride. "Foxy!"

She wasn't sure if that blob of orange could be called a fox but if he said so, then it must be. She took the other cupcake that was beside the fox one.

"This bunny is cute." She was quite impressed even though it still only looked like a blob of white. The lines were squiggly and his ears had molded together. The bunny's face was lopsided but she could still identify that it was a bunny, albeit a grotesque one. "Did you make it Asuma?"

Asuma Jr. shook his head. "Not mine."

Kakashi cleared his throat and pointed at Naruto, who grinned and gave her two thumbs up in the background.

Time to move on again.

Hinata stood beside Naruto and supervised his chopping. What she did see made her heart want to explode.

Naruto, in all his shinobi glory, threw carrots in the air. In a short space of time, which his father would be proud of, his kunai was in his hands and Naruto slashed meaningfully in the air. Hinata watched as a whole carrot disapppeared into sliced pieces as carrots started to rain down on them.

Looking like he was having the time of his life, Naruto lifted the carrot pieces to show Hinata what he'd done. "Look! Look Hinata!" He eagerly held up the carrot pieces beside his whiskers.

Which the carrots had as well. Whiskers that is. Each slice of carrot was shaped to be a fox head.

"Naruto-kun, what did I say about bringing a kunai into the kitchen?"

"I know, I know," Naruto intoned, "But a normal knife's not fun."

Hinata drew out a sight. "Naruto-kun, that looks extremely dangerous."

"Yeah but I'm a shinobi. I can totally handle it."

Hinata doubted it. The last time he had done such things, he managed to prick his finger and wallowed in pathetic pain as he watched her cook for the rest of the day. Not even a kiss and colour banadages could cheer him up.

There was only one thing to satisfy him. She would do it with him to make sure he won't hurt himself.

Telling him to move a bit, she stood infront of him to guide his hands. She placed her hands on top of his which held the knife and she slowly helped him cut the vegetables.

Naruto, of course, took advantage of this situation and pressed himself closer to her and rested his chin on her shoulder. He managed to sneak a kiss to her neck before Hinata could stutter out a plea to pay attention.

Then Hinata noticed something. "Where's Fukasaku?" she asked him.

"Oh him? He went back. But he tried some of the icing straight of the bowl and pretty much jumped into it and drank it, it was kinda gross really." Naruto scrunched his face in the way that she adored so much. "So I just let him take it with him."

Hinata nodded along with his story until something registered in her mind.

Wait, the icing.

"No, no no..." She muttered to herself as she felt the cold edge of panic creep up on her shoulders. Looking through the fridge she confirmed what she already knew. "No, no no! Naruto-kun! That was special buttercream icing! " Her voice was steadily rising in pitch.

Naruto looked guiltily began to panic at the rise of her voice.

She heaved, turned every nook and searched every corner before accepting the truth. "We ran out of cream," she whispered brokenly. "Naruto-kun, we ran out of cream. We ran out of cream! We ran out of cream so now we can't make anymore because we ran out of cream and the cake won't be complete because there won't be buttercream icing because we ran out of cream and buttercream icing were Kurenai's favourite!" The stress threatened to crack her voice. The thought of a icingless cake was enough to make Hinata faint.

"Uh, uh, don't worry Hinata! I'll go make some more!" Weaving hand signs as familiar to him as breathing, Naruto yelled out, "Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"

Instantly a clone appeared beside him. "What's up boss? Why's m'lady panicking on the ground."

Failure. That's why. This dinner had to be perfect and it would not be perfect without buttercream icing!

Naruto fumbled with his pockets before throwing out coins at him. "Go!" he barked, "go to the nearest store and buy some cream -"

"Whipping cream," Hinata added.

"-whipping cream and come here stat!"

The shadow clone nodded before jumping out through the kitchen window. Naruto noted that he had been spending too much time with Kakashi-sensei lately and picked up on his bad habits.

Now that was sorted, Naruto ran to Hinata and engulfed her in his arms. "I'm so sorry Hinata! I didn't mean to give him that icing!" he desperately explained.

After talking herself out of her panic, Hinata patted his arms and leaned into his embrace. She took a deep breath in, "It's okay, Naruto-kun. Let's just focus on getting the other ingredients."

"Oh! I know! We would need icing sugar right? I can get that!" Before Hinata could even reply, Naruto had zoomed off to the other side of the kitchen and the cupboards. As he was carrying the bag of icing sugar towards her, Hinata saw the moment disaster struck.

Her fox, so eager to please, too fast for himself, tripped on his own foot and sent the bag flying. Waving his arms frantically, he tried to catch the bag. Hinata vaulted herself off the floor to do the same but their efforts interfered with the others. Limbs got tangled, elbows were shoved as the both fell sprawled to the floor. Doing its best impression of a gymnast, the bag tipped upside down and with a regretful howl, Hinata watched as the content splattered all over her and Naruto.

Silence descenced unto the kitchen. Kakashi read his book. Asuma Jr. chortled out a laugh. Hinata's blush was painted white by the sugar as she lied on top of Naruto and Naruto looked stricken.

"I'm sorry Hinata." Naruto began. "I'm sorry for ruining your cake and effort and the icing and the cream and dragging Kakai-sensei here when I was suppose to be babysitting him, ugh." He reached up to her face to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He let his hand fall and his face contorted into a look of guilt and remorse.

"I'm sorry."

Hinata ignored all of it. All she could see was Naruto's face comically powdered in icing sugar. She couldn't help it. She began to laugh. As if the sugar put her priorities straight, Hinata giggled as she swipped a finger across his nose and licked it.

She closed her eyes in delight before kissing the bridge of his nose and licking the sugar off her lips. "I don't mind," she answered in reply. And she didn't. If her food ended up being a disaster tonight, it was worth it just to experience the past couple of seconds with her Naruto-kun. Her idiotic, loveable buffoonic Naruto-kun. She sighed contently as she brushed the sugar out of his hair.

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"Really but," she broke off to kiss the sugar of his lips before smiling, "Thanks for trying."

He broke his signature grin before kissing her nose and tasting the sugar caught on his lips. "Hinata, you are the best."

His eyes glinted in a way that made her blush. "And you taste delicious."

He caught her lips in a warm kiss. Hinata sighed in content. Kakashi never faltered from his book but had the decency to cover Asuma Jr's eyes and Asuma Jr clapped his chubby hands in applause. All was right in the kitchen.


	3. Holding Hands

A/N: Thank you so so much to all those who are taking the time to read my work and those who review them. Every review or view makes me super duper happy and motivates me to keep on writing even though I may not reply to all your reviews. It is a joy to write for this community. Of course, feedback is always welcomed.

Summary: Kiba has devised a plan of action for Hinata's weak immunity for long exposures of Naruto.

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Naruto**

**A bit of colourful language because Kiba is Kiba.**

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**Day 4 - Holding Hands**

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Kiba pointed out once, while she untangled his knotty hair, that Naruto's thick headedness can be used to her advantage. Flushed but intrigued, Hinata patiently listened. Kiba pointed out that Naruto can be so oblivious, Hinata would be free to show her affection without her insecurities about Naruto's reaction holding her back. This also benefited to build Hinata's immunity to long exposure of Naruto which is something, Kiba pointed out, she needed if she wanted to be with Naruto.

Thus she would be able to 'casually insert herself in Naruto's life,' as Kiba put it, without being too 'stalkerish.'

It began with small things such as patroning Ichiraku's, and only Ichiraku's, at the right time. The man himself and his daughter, Ayame, have started welcoming her with fondness and amusement once they saw her blatant inability to function at the presence of a certain knuckle head. Naruto was, of course, delighted that he had found someone else who also had a burning, youthful passion for ramen and had no problem exclaiming it loudly. Hinata just nodded and sat contently, happy to sit beside him and listen to him talk and gobble up ramen.

Ayame had even commented on it one time.

"Naruto seems much more enthusiastic coming to Ichiraku's these couple of days, doesn't he?" she asked her father.

"Yes, definitely," her father replied, before giving Hinata a smiling glance. "Maybe it's because he's had something more to look forward to these days."

Hinata turned red under their gazes.

"Something? I think you meant _someone_ didn't you, father dearest?"

Hinata wanted to die. However, she couldn't and wouldn't stop with this plan of hers.

Ayame laughed. "Oh honey, you two make a cute couple. He's loud enough for the both of you."

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A month after being Ichiraku's second best customer, Naruto invited her to train with him. Hinata was ecstatic. She told Kiba and Shino promptly of course.

"Perfect! Now's your chance to sneak in a bit of a feel," suggested Kiba while wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"Kiba-kun! I'm not just going to feel him up!" Hinata felt her whole body flush at the thought. "That's too inappropriate."

"Why not?" Kiba asked, shrugging his shoulders. "And I was thinking more towards hugging. He probably wouldn't even notice the hug, he hugs Sasuke pretty much all the time without even blinking."

"I can't- I can't hug Naruto-kun!" Hinata's hand flew to cover her already flaming cheeks. "It's too fast, it's definitely too fast!"

Shino's shades glinted in thought. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose. "I will have to agree with Kiba. The opportunity has presented itself to build your immunities without him knowing. I suggest you take it."

Hinata's head began spinning. The thought of touching Naruto, a hot, sweaty, muscular Naruto- she felt pressure build behind her nose and willed herself to stop thinking those things. But the fact is the thought of even just hugging Naruto was enough to make her faint.

But she agreed. She steeled her resolve and promised herself to do it the next day. Hugging Naruto. Hinata will write this down as one the boldest things that she has done her entire life.

Indeed, when she blushingly wrapped her arms around Naruto the next day, it was safe to say that Naruto was more shocked about it than she was. This was probably due to the position in which she hugged him in, enclosing both of his arms in her tight embrace.

As quickly as she embraced him, she let him go. Hinata couldn't stop stuttering and apologise profusely before running for her life out of the training grounds. She hoped that this wouldn't change the way things were between them. She hoped dearly that Kiba was write and Naruto will write this off as something casual shared between friends. Hinata slept with worries plaguing her mind all night.

The next day Hinata cautiously dragged herself to the Ichiraku's. Her heart stopped when she saw Naruto already seated on one of the stools. What was strange was that he had not already dug into his meal. His ramen remained untouched and Naruto was impatiently tapping his fingers on the stand and constantly peering his head left and right. What confused her was the second bowl of untouched ramen beside him.

Blue eyes then landed on her and his features lit up.

"Hinata! Come on, you're late. I was getting really hungry."

Heart warmed by his gestures, Hinata only smiled shyly and sat down to begin eating. The relief that washed through her was calming. Nothing had changed between them. Everything was back to normal.

The day went on as it usually did except a change in one instance when Hinata hugged Naruto, she felt her heart leaped when she found his arms lifting and closing around her in return.

* * *

"Okay Hinata," Kiba's serious tone of voice emphasised the severity of the new development in her mission, "now we pull out the big guns."

"Big guns?"

"Time to step up to the next level. Naruto's more likely to be seen with you nowadays than he is with even Sasuke! That means we can step it up a notch."

Her, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were lounging in her room, snacking on cakes and tea. Big, roomy but comfortable, this was the number one hangout for team eight to wind down after training, or in this case, to discuss their battle plans.

"What are you thinking of, Kiba-kun?"

"I'm thinking it's time you give him a little peck on the cheek after you train."

"Eh?! A peck?!"

"Yes a peck. A kiss. Doesn't have to be a full on snogfest but just a kiss on the cheek."

"Hmm.." Hinata began pushing her index fingers against each other, something she only did when she was nervous. "I don't think I'm ready for this, Kiba-kun."

"Of course you are." Kiba waved his hand flippantly. "Being the utter dumbass he is, he probably won't think much of it. This is the chance to build you up for a full kiss on the lips."

Hinata blushed madly and Shino sighed at Kiba's forcefulness. When Kiba sets his mind to something, there is no stopping him. He is quite dogged.

Akamaru wagged his tail in agreement.

"While I do think Kiba's idea has its merits, do not feel forced to do it straight away, Hinata. Take your time." Shino pointed out before delicately biting a biscuit.

"Hai, I will. Thank you Shino-kun." Hinata replied, her mind already on her next course of action.

Once again it was unclear who was shocked more, Hinata or Naruto, when she tiptoed up to brush her lips on his cheeks. It was to say thank you for bringing tea, her favourite kind nonetheless, for them to drink after training knowing that Naruto wasn't too fond of tea.

From then on, Hinata noticed that Naruto always brought tea to drink after training.

* * *

While walking to the training grounds one day, Hinata decided that today would be the day she kissed Naruto on the lips.

She was walking around in a daze, preparing herself to kiss him when she found Kiba instead of Naruto in the training grounds.

Kiba was hitting the wooden stand a bit recklessly. Hinata was instantly worried. It looked as if he already bruised his knuckles very badly. She called out to him and he looked at her with empty eyes. This made Hinata even more concerned, Kiba's eyes can be many things, but never empty. She called his name and soon had him in her arms for a tight, warm embrace.

"Hana's fiancé left her this morning," He said dejectedly. "He had been cheating on her these past few weeks the took her money and ran with the other woman."

Hinata just pat his back and hugged him, trying to treat the wound that was bleeding for his sister.

"I can't believe it. I thought he was a stand up guy. I should've listened to Akamaru, he never liked him, but I thought that was just because he was a cat guy."

"It wasn't your fault, Kiba-kun." Hinata pressed her lips against his forehead. "Don't blame yourself. You couldn't have done anything. Hana was in love with him, she wouldn't have listened to you."

Kiba nuzzled into her shoulder and took in a deep breathe. Many might mistake this act as intimacy but with the Inuzuka family, this level of touch was normal for family members. It was why Kiba was so confused at Hinata's reluctance to hug and kiss Naruto.

Coming from a clan that was close to their canine side, touch was normal for Kiba. It was necessary for someone who relied so much on their instincts and senses to be comforted in this way. It took a long time for reserved people like Shino and her to fully understand the necessity of touch and companionship for someone like Kiba but once they did, they quickly became affectionate with each other themselves.

"You're right." Kiba sighed. "I'll go back and force myself in Hana's room and tell her the same thing. Then we can go hunting for that bastard. Thanks, Hinata."

He ruffled the top of her hair before grinning madly. "Oh, by the way, you're boyfriend's behind us and saw everything."

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata squealed in fluster and turned herself around to see him with his lips thinned pressed together tightly and eyes glaring holes into the man beside her.

"Hey Naruto, just taking my leave. I'll see ya later." He fled from the scene like the racing dogs he was so fond of.

This left Hinata and Naruto with an air of heavy tension. Hinata couldn't move herself away, her foot glued to the ground and Naruto's eyes had moved to bore holes into her soul.

"I thought hugging was our thing."

Hinata looked up, transfixed at the sight of Naruto moving closer to her. How the sound of his voice could be heard over the sound her heart drumming rapidly, she did not know.

"And kissing," He pointed to his cheek, "I thought kissing was our thing too."

Hinata hesitated to answer him. She didn't know what he wanted her to say so she pressed her lips together.

"You know, like Ichiraku's our thing and tea after training's our thing."

They were now very close to each other. Naruto rested his hands on her arms and she shuddered at the warmth that he radiated so close to hers. Heat pooled at the base of her stomach.

"But I guess if you share it with Kiba then we'll have to find a new thing. I don't like sharing things," His eyes caught her in a trance, "especially not with Kiba, especially not this."

His hands slid up her shoulders and cupped her face, leaving her skin tingling with goosebumps. She took a small breathe before his lips slanted against his and she melted into his warmth. His hands angled her head slightly and he sunk deeper, never wanting to let go.

They broke apart with panted breaths and heated cheeks. Naruto grinned while lacing his hand with hers and letting the other stay on her face, his thumb caressing her bottom lip.

Hinata's brain ceased to function. He was holding her hand. Holding her hand in his. Holding hands, kissing, these are all the things that-that couples do!

"So how about it Hinata? Will you be my girlfriend?"

Going agaisnt all training, all conditioning, Hinata did the only thing she could in this situation: She fainted.


	4. Laughter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Summary:** Naruto encounters his most terrifying enemy yet.

* * *

**Day 5 - Laugther**

* * *

In all his years of being the Hokage, scratch that, of being a shinobi, he had never faced such a terror as this. He had faced many, unbelievably terrifying enemies in the past but nothing can compare to the menace he felt with this one. It definitely overpowered any tailed beast. It would make Sasuke back in fear. It would even make goddamn _Madara Uchiha _quake in his boots but the worst part of this was that his enemy was untouchable. He couldn't strike at it if he wanted to and that thought made him truly fearful.

His most alarming enemy yet was in the hands of his precious daughter.

"If you keep glaring at that doll, you're going to be late for work."

Naruto sullenly slumped into his seat as he eyed his five year old daughter across the table. The picture of himself excluding the black hair and white eyes, she was cuddling her precious doll in one arm, spooning cereal into her mouth in the other. The doll stared back at him, its face porcelain white and serene, it's dark red eyes glazing over and feeding on his fear.

Or at least that's what he was sure the doll was doing.

Where the back of the doll is a string with a loop. When pulled, the doll let out the highest shriek of laughter that chilled his soul to the bone. Its voice too saccharine sweet, its tone too mocking to melodious, the doll seemed to say to him, "_Enjoy this while you can before I come and catch you."_

And the smile. Don't get him started on the creepy smile of hell.

Naruto sneaked a hand under his shirt and rested it on his seal.

_Kurama, do you feel any bad chakra coming off from that doll?_

_You're an idiot._

_Oi! I didn't ask for your opinion. Just answer me!_

_Fufufufu. No, I don't feel anything from that doll. It's just a normal doll kit. Is the one and only Uzumaki Naruto afraid of a child's toy?_

_Ha-ha Kurama you're funny. I'm not listening to you anymore. _

He felt warm lips press against his cheeks and his eye contact with the malicious doll broke and slide over to his lovely wife. She was dressed in her cooking apron and in her lap was his two year old son sporting a lovely brush of blonde hair at the top and white eyes like her mother.

"Naruto-kun, you need to stop being so apprehensive about that doll."

"I can't help it." He crossed his arms and pouted a little. "That thing is just the creepiest creep that ever creeped. I can't believe Nejiko is so attached to it."

"Nejiko loves her," she stated while patting his thigh, "and you should try to love her too. What will happen when Nejiko starts bringing her boyfriends over and you don't like them?"

"That's easy." Naruto pointed a finger at the doll. "I get Kakai-sensei to Kamui them into another dimension. We wouldn't even need that because-" He leaned forward slightly to address his daughter. "You're not going to have _any_ boyfriends aren't you, Nejiko?"

Nejiko just nodded and recited happily, "Daddy says not until I'm married."

"See? Problem solved. But even Kakai-sensei is freaked out about that doll. Where did you even get it anyway?"

"We got it from a garage sale. This lovely old lady told us that this belonged to her deceased grand daughter and gave it to us for free because Nejiko seemed to really like her."

Naruto felt chills down his spine just looking at the dolls. Now he had a tragic back story to add on to it. The good qualities of horror story.

"Was the grand daughter deceased before or after she got the doll?" Naruto squinted at the doll. "Because I have a heavy suspicion that she 'became' deceased after she got the doll."

"What's 'deceased', mummy?" Nejiko piped up from the table. "Can I be 'deceased'?"

"No honey, you can't. It's a bad thing." Hinata giggled before kissing the chubby cheek of her son in her lap. "Naruto-kun you're just being silly. Right Hiruzen chan?"

Hiruzen copied his mother. He broke off each word into syllables. "Silly daddy!"

That even made Naruto smile. He took comfort in ruffling Hiruzen's hair and kissing his wife's cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I'm being a bit ridiculous. I'll stop glaring at that doll."

Nejiko took this time to pull the string behind her doll and shrieking laughter pierced the air in the kitchen. Naruto shuddered.

* * *

When Hinata left to run errands with baby Hiruzen, Naruto thought this was his chance to try and replace that doll, Naruto shivered a bit, with another plushie.

So when he jumped into the Nejiko's bedroom where Nejiko was, he was surprised when Nejiko was without her doll, her pillows upturned and Nejiko poking her head under the bed.

Kneelingh before his baby, Naruto asked her,"What's wrong Nejiko-chan?"

Nejiko pouted slightly. "I can't find Anko-chan anywhere!"

A look of distaste etched on his face. It was fitting that the most creepiest doll in the world was named after the creepiest woman in Konoha.

"Where did you last put her? Did you leave her at school?"

Nejiko shook her head slightly. "I don't take her to school. I leave her on the bed. Anko-chan said she needed to go. Anko-chan told me not to follow her."

That was very worrying for Naruto, he couldn't help the back of his neck from tingling alarmingly. "What do you mean?"

"Anko-chan just told me that she needed to do something. That she'll be right back when she's finished but I can't find her anywhere!"

Naruto started getting a bad vibe about it. "Cmon, Nejiko-chan. Dolls can't just get up and walk away."

Nejiko stomped her little foot. "She did! I always leave her there and she's not there!"

Her little tirade was interrupted by her closet door creaking slightly open. A robotic but sweet laughter filtered through the air and left a sour taste on Naruto's tongue.

"_Hehehe."_

Signalling Nejiko to stay behind him, he cautiously stepped towards the closet. The laughter growing closer to them.

"_Hehehe."_

Ice running up and down his arms, leaving goosebumps in its place. His hands grew sweaty and clammy and he dug his fingers into the edge of the door.

"_Hehehe."_

Shoving it open he found Anko-chan, sitting innocently between the towels. Naruto saw the string and loop connected to Anko-chan's back sticking out. Naruto began sweating; the loop and the string was not extended.

Trying to laugh his unease away, he turned around to address Nejiko that everything was allright.

And found himself staring into dark red eyes and porcelain white skin.

As he was the hokage, the strongest damn ninja in the fire land, he acted accordingly of course. He let out the manliest shriek that ever graced Konoha and flung his arms over his face, thinking that he was going to die of shock.

That was of course, before he heard warm, melodious laughter accompanied by a high shrieking fit.

"Hinata!" Betrayal laced into his whine. "That was really mean."

He glared at his traitorous daughter who was rolling around in fits of laughter on the bed. She ignored him and continued laughing, cherishing the memory of her shrieking Hokage father.

Naruto felt the loving arms of his wife encircle him in apology. "Hehe, I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I couldn't resist."

She let him nuzzle into her neck while she rubbed her hands up and down his back in comfort. Naruto felt slightly better knowing that getting a scare meant he could cuddle his wife. He trailed his lips up her neck and captured it into a brief but warm kiss.

"That was really really mean. I'm going to need a lot of kisses and ramen to feel better."

Hinata giggled again. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. If it makes you feel better, it was really Sasuke-kun's idea to scare you."

His eyes squinted with menace as he mouthed, "teme" with maliciousness.

She leaned into him more and kissed his jaw. "He said that scaring you would make my announcement less of a fright."

"Announcement? What announcement?" He rubbed her shoulders in order to calm himself from the last fright. "I swear Hinata, nothing else in the damn world could scare after that stunt."

She giggled and looked at him dead in the eyes. "Naruto-kun, I'm pregnant."

* * *

**A/N: **I liked to think that he let out another one of his manly shrieks at that. Thank you for taking the time to read and remember to review.


	5. Haiku

**A/N**: This entry was a bit late because I was having problems with the site but everything's all peachy now. Thanks for taking the time to read it and enjoy!

* * *

**Day 7 - Haiku**

* * *

Naruto sat in his living room, a card and paintbrush lying on the table in front of him. Stretching his legs and yawning wildly, he acknowledged that he was hopelessly lost in the depths of his mind. To be honest with himself, he was surprised that he was able to peer this deeply into his own mind. Brains were not his strong point, everybody including himself knew that. That's not quite right, he decided; He wasn't conventionally intelligent in many areas but he could be very smart in others. This particular area, however, was definitely not something he was smart in or even just able in. Still, he persevered.

Breathing in, he closed his eyes for a moment, considering his words very carefully. He dipped his paintbrush in the ink and practiced what Sai had instructed him. Stroke by stroke, ink began to dry.

_When light catches your_

_dark hair and shimmers brightly,_

_I can't look away._

_Your grace, your smiles and_

_lavender eyes never fails_

_to leave me breathless._

There. Naruto smiled. Breathless sounded awfully romantic, this would be like something out of a romance novel. Naruto was pleased with himself, hell, if Jiraiya was here, ero-sennin would definitely be pleased with his A class writing and object of affection.

Although, he admitted to himself that it was more like his object of obsession. It had started with admiration. Admiration from bruises and sweat as their forearms and fists clashed. Admiration which grew to something more with tea filled conversations and moonlight strolls. He had never felt so at peace, so content, with himself until that moment, never knowing that life itself could be so tranquil. And to think, he almost missed out if he had not listened to Tsunade.

Tsunade said outright that his taijutsu sucked. Naruto agreed but he was way too focused on creating new techniques to worry about. Worrying about the kid's primitive and blunt taijutsu skills, she called in a trusted, proven expert; Hyuga Neji.

Neji was surprised at his lack of skill, for which Naruto made up for in speed. He was prepared to teach Naruto how to use that speed to his advantage. What he wasn't prepared for, was to _teach_ Naruto. Weighing from throwing a boulder or a brick on Naruto's head, Neji had decided a slower, much slower, more patient approach would benefit Naruto the most. That was where Hinata came in.

She was radiantly beautiful at that time. Although sweaty, bruised and looking like she wanted to kill him, he was enchanted. One unsuspecting jyuken to his abdomen and Naruto fell back mesmerised. He was absolutely smitten with Hinata.

Patting his thigh with one hand, he picked up the brush with the other. He signed the letter, not with his name, but with a picture of a frog and a fox, folded the paper into an envelope and wrote carefully at the front:

_Hyuga H._

* * *

"What are you looking smug about, Naruto?"

Stopping midway of his snicker, he tried his best to look unbothered and cool, as if he hadn't just dropped off his romantic haiku and fled giggling like a schoolgirl. "Oh, nothing."

Sakura didn't buy it. And so did Sai beside her who tilted his head and said, "Did you finally finish your haiku for booby-chan?"

"Don't call her that! And yes I did." The last bit was muttered quietly.

Sakura looked positively delighted. "A haiku for Hinata-chan? Oh she'll be so happy! Have you read it to her yet?"

"Eh-no."

"Have you given it to her yet?"

"Uh-Kind of. I just dropped it off at her house."

"Well that's not romantic."

"I'm trying you know!"

Sai nodded sympathetically to Naruto. "I agree with dickless. Realistically, that's as much satisfaction that she'll ever get from him."

"Shut up, Sai! I didn't want to scare her off or something so I just wrote her initials at the front, dropped it off at her house and ran."

There was a beat of silence before Sakura registered his words, her happy expression conforming into something else Naruto did not recognise. "Wait... you- you just wrote her _initials _at the front?"

The slight lift to her tone tingled the back of his neck in warning. "Well, yeah. You know, just Hyuga H. at the front. I thought it would be okay."

Silence descended and an air of tension, something Naruto was very familiar with, grew around Sakura, one that told him to back away slowly.

"Naruto," she said slowly, carefully, hoping that maybe talking to him like she would talk to a child would get the message through to that idiot friend of hers, "Can you tell me the names of Hinata's family members?"

Naruto really didn't like how one of her eyes were twitching and her fists were clenched tightly but he complied. "Well," he said while counting off the names on his hand, "her little sister's Hanabi, her dad's Hiashi and- _Oh."_

Hyuga Hanabi. Hyuga Hiashi. _Hyuga H._

"Oh, shit!" Naruto swore, leaving his friends behind in a swath of dust and running back to the Hyuga compound. "Shit, shit, shit, _shit!_"

Sakura just shook her head and Sai tried to mimic her. "Idiot."

* * *

"Stupid Neji and his stupid genius eyes and his stupid ridiculously soft hair."

Naruto kneeled on the branch and surveyed the roof of the Hyuga compound, observing Neji who stood watch diligently for him. His sight were partially covered by leaves which danced lightly to the breeze of that sunny day.

Muttering curses at Neji made him feel better knowing that Neji wouldn't be able to judge Naruto's choice of vocabulary like he did before. Just because Naruto accidentally said to that he wanted to check the family's 'drawers' for a misplaced letter, did not mean that he wanted to an excuse to check Hinata's _underwear_ drawers. He did not deserve to get trigamed so hard out of the compound because of his poor choice of words and Neji's overprotective brotherly instincts that he has to resort into breaking into the compound to get the letter. He wasn't that perverted, at least not at this stage in the dating game.

Neji turned and walked away thinking that Naruto's antics would stretch to the other side of the compound. Ignoring how his long hair seemed to flick and shimmer in the light, Naruto stopped himself from combing his hair subconsciously and jumped into the compound, landing solidly inside the bush. He had expected it to be slightly sharp and uncomfortable, he didn't expect to land on someone else inside it.

"Ow! Watch where you're landing!"

"How about you watch where you're crouching?" Naruto retorted hotly, digging his fingers into the person's collar before dragging him up. "And why the hell are you crouched in a bush you-Konohamaru?"

"Boss?" Shock drew on his face. "What are you doing here?"

He let the fingers gripping his collar go but pointed at his face. "I asked first. What the hell are you doing hiding in a bush inside the Hyuga compound?"

"Well what about you? I got this bush first!"

"Doesn't matter, I'm older. You answer me first."

"Fine!" Konohamaru sighed angrily before shifting his eyes away and muttering quietly, "Neji didn't let me through the door to see Hanabi."

Naruto's grin grew absolutely wicked. "Hanabi? You seeing Hanabi? What ever happened to 'freezing your ass off from her icy glare of death'?"

His cheeks grew tomato red. "Well aren't you writing a haiku or something? Couldn't find anything that rhymed with dattebayo huh?"

"Why you-"

"I don't think its usual for bushes to talk much less fight with itself ."

Jumping to stand straightly, they both turned, alarmed, to face an amused pair of lavender eyes. Those eyes bore warmth into Naruto. It started at the belly and spread up his torso, until echoes of warmed his fingertips and he wiggled them in delight. His nose tingled with her clean, comforting scent and his eyes focused on her smiling face with clarity. "Hinata! uh- hi. Funny seeing you here..."

She raised one of her hands to her mouth and giggled slightly. "At my own house?"

"Yeah. Totally... at your own house..." Naruto combed his fingers through his hair, trying to smoothly ruffle the leaves that nested there and slightly cursed his inability for smooth talking.

Distaste etched onto Konohamaru's face. It was embarrassing to see his boss being so lame. "Hinata-sama, would I be able to go and see Hanabi?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow up to the heavens. The fact that Konohamaru could be polite was new and slightly disturbing; meek and humble did not suit him.

Hinata only smiled. "Hanabi's in the library. She's been expecting you."

Konohamaru thanked her, bowed and left and Naruto had to stop his hands from slapping himself silly at that show of servitude. Konohamaru was severely whipped.

"I think it's cute, the two of them."

"Konohamaru's so whipped."

Hinata laughed and moved towards him, plucking stray leaves out of his hair. Naruto almost purred at the sensation of warm fingers stifling through his lock and rubbing his scalp. "He's good for Hanabi-chan. And what brings you here Naruto-kun?"

"Oh yeah." Naruto felt big and awkward, unsure where to put his hands while hers were petting his head. His heightened senses bathed in her soapy scent and his head felt slightly light and intoxicated, drifting in her smell. "Uhm Hinata, did you get a letter addressed to Hyuga H. this morning?"

"Not that I remember. May I ask why Naruto-kun?"

"It's just that I-" Naruto stopped to take a breath in and shift his eyes behind her. "I sorta wrote something for you but I didn't write that it was meant for you so it could be for anyone in the family really so..."

"Something for me?" Hinata said slowly, taking her hands out of his hair. She felt her cheeks warm up at the thought of Naruto gifting her something. "You wrote something for me?"

Naruto looked at her red cheeks, so contrasting to her pale eyes and felt the urge to touch her consume him. But he wouldn't let himself. He couldn't let someone so incompetent that he couldn't address a letter properly, caress a beauty such as hers. "Yeah. I wrote you a haiku, you know, because I heard you liked those things."

_He wrote something for me. He wrote a haiku for me. _Hinata's body went into overdrive. Absolute joy swelled inside her. She was close to falling back into her old habits and shutting down, then steel determination straightened her spine; she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of him by fainting."T-thank you, Naruto-kun. I l-love it."

The feeling of uselessness bittered the taste of his tongue. "You can't love it yet. You didn't even get it because I couldn't even send a letter properly."

"That's not true," she denied softly, trying to lift his sullen tone. "I already love it b-because you... you-"

"I-?"

"b-because you wrote it especially for me. Just for me. That makes me really h-happy. No one has ever done that for me."

"Well they should." Fire ignited inside him. He laced one of his hands into hers and held them up while determination washed over him. "They should write you haikus because you really deserve them. In fact I'll write you another one. I'll write you hundreds of them. I'll write you one that's better than the last one."

"Okay," she said contently. Hinata wasn't going to object. Not when he held her hand like this and looked all fired up with messy hair and a small branch sticking out of his jacket. She happy to let herself melt into a puddle on the inside. "Oh! Naruto-kun will you have lunch with me?"

"Hell yeah." Naruto replied enthusiastically before frowning and asking, "but what about Neji?"

"Neji-niisan is going out to lunch with his team." She giggled slightly while leading him inside. "So he won't be able to toss you into the sky again."

Thank the heavens for that, Naruto thought as he followed behind her. He really wouldn't want Neji to be kicking him out now. Especially not when he finally got to spend time with Hinata. He closed the door soundly behind them and followed the scent of food into the kitchen.

* * *

A hallway away, Hiashi sat in his desk while folding a piece of paper and storing it into his desk. Light from the window beside him bounced off the letter and highlighted the words written in stubby blank ink, _Hyuga H._. He glanced at the window, noticing a shade of his reflection and his lips twitched into a smile.

A chuckle escaped from his lips."Looks like I still have it in me, Hizashi."


	6. Winter Wonderland

**Summary:** One of the coldest days of Hinata's life and it doesn't look like it will get any better. That is until one Uzumaki Naruto comes along.

* * *

**Day 11 - Winter Wonderland**

* * *

Hinata felt the coldness bite her cheeks. Huddled in her tan jacket on top of two others, her body should have been feeling toasty but chills shook her to the core. She sat, alone in her favourite training grounds, huddled on the snow, fighting to breathe properly after running from the compound. Most of all she was fighting against her tears. Here she was in her favourite place in the world; the place where Kiba and Shino would meet her in the morning, the place where Naruto would train in the afternoon, the place where Naruto first told her he liked people like her but today, she couldn't seem to feel joy, happiness, feel anything, when she was suffocating. Her heart was filled to the brim and it threatened to burst violently.

She had, for the first time, ended the life of another human being.

She had just killed a man.

_She had just killed a man. _

She choked on her cry as she rubbed her eyes hysterically.

It wasn't suppose to happen that way. It was suppose to be an ordinary mission; a genin team specialised for tracking and avoid being tracked to deliver a message to a nearby village. Easy.

But nothing in life was ever easy. They were ambushed by cloud ninjas, popping up from the snow and separating her from her team, trying her up and tossing her over their shoulder. Kicking her team mates and wounding her sensei, they knocked her out and ran. When she woke up she asked why and no one spoke but the one carrying her, much later when she asked.

_I'm sorry kid. I really am but I need the money._

She got panicky and frustrated, so tired of people trying to kidnap her for her eyes. She told him that there are plenty of ways to get money. Opening a shop, escort missions, working in a farm. There were plenty of ways to make an honest living without kidnapping twelve year old girls.

_I need more. My kid's sick. He needs surgery and surgery needs money. I'm sorry but I really need the money for my kid._

That was the moment that hysteria took over her They were almost at the border and her team mates were nowhere to be seen. Her heart went racing and cold sweat starting trickling down her neck. She knew what was going to happen after they took her there, after her eyes were taken. She was going to get killed. She was going to die and she wasn't ready to die. She did not want to die.

In a frenzy of kicks and punches, she hit anything she could reach. The first hit shook the man carrying her and his hold on her slipped until she was face to face with his kunai strap on his thigh. Wasting no time, she gripped it with both her hands and pushed down, ignoring the cry of pain from the man.

He dropped her onto the snow. She didn't let go of the kunai, dragging it down with her tearing muscle from bone. The coldness of the snow was a slap to her cheeks but it easy to ignore when the blood rushing in her body warmed her to move. She wasn't going to die. Not today.

The man dropped to his knees and Hinata didn't blink, couldn't let herself breathe as she lodge the kunai out of him and slashed his throat, like what her teachers told her to do. But her teachers never told her how the blood ran hot on her hands, blood that wasn't her own. It burned her. And her teachers never told her that the person could still be choking afterwards. As well as gagging, gurgling up blood and coughing it onto her, warm speckles that would haunt her forever. She dropped her kunai and fell backwards crawling, struggling to breathe.

_She had just killed a man._

She remembered looking up at the face of a leaf jonin and hearing nothing. Feeling nothing, numbed to the core, frozen inside her body. It was only a few seconds later but it felt like forever.

And now she was crying. She's not supposed to cry about it, she's a ninja. She's a ninja, she's not supposed to cry about killing someone who wanted to kill her, about someone who wanted to _harvest _her eyes and then kill her but she couldn't stop her heart from wheezing its pain. She had killed someone's father. Somewhere out there a child is fatherless, sick and worried about his/her daddy and it was her fault that he wasn't coming home. As these thought screamed at her, tugged her into despair, she felt something inside her wither away.

She thought she would feel better at home; she took a shower straight away, desperately scrubbing her skin underneath scalding hot water in hopes that the blood, the filthy blood, would finally come off and stop suffocating her and let her just breathe but it didn't. It squeezed her. It crushed her. It stayed with her long after the disgust filled whispers reached her ear.

_Spineless creature._

_She brings nothing but shame to the Hyuga clan especially to the main family._

_Failure after failure after failure. She is a worthless heir and probably will be a worthless ninja. _

Hinata?

"Hinata?"

A voice filled with warmth and worry but also curiosity. A voice that she knew better than her own but right now she couldn't do anything else but bury herself inside her forearms and cry. She couldn't muster enough energy for her to be embarrassed that she was caught like this and especially embarrassed that she was caught like this by _him_.

"Hello? Hinata~ Wake up or you'll freeze to death in here."

This made her smile. "I-I'm awake, Naru-t-to-kun," she whispered softly, keeping her head down.

"Huh? So are you awake or not? Or was that just a snore or something."

Choking on a small laugh, she tried answering louder. "I'm a-awake Naruto-kun."

With sluggish movements, she tilted her neck up. Naruto was covered in layers and layers of orange clothes complete with orange mittens. The only things that weren't orange was his green beanie, with two dopey frog eyes at the front and woolly ears at the top, and his scruffy yellow knitted scarf with a gaping hole near the end.

Naruto made a surprised noise when he saw her eyes. He didn't know her lavender-white eyes could get red and no doubt from the stains in her cheek that she was crying.

"Oh-uhm." Naruto made a move to scratch the back of his head. "You look uhm- your eyes are really red."

Which let the despair over her again as she remembered that she was crying because she was a horrible person who had just killed a man. Tears pricked her eyes again.

"No! No, I didn't mean that! I mean your eyes are red, but that's not bad, you're still pretty! Please don't cry."

Hinata really wanted to stop and she wiped her tears in her sleeves in an effort to, but couldn't stop her hysterical breathing that made her want to break into tears all over again. So she tried to regulate her breathing by heavy and long puffs.

"W-why are y-you he-re, Naruto-kun?"

Feeling tremendously awkward, but wasn't about to show it, Naruto sat himself beside Hinata. He would try to ignore the awkwardness as much as he would try to ignore the snow wetting his butt because Hinata looked horribly sad.

"Me? Oh I'm here because I guess I just wanted a walk. I really like the snow, but no one wants to build a snowman with me."

Listening to Naruto talk was good for her. His scratchy voice was soothing for her. She didn't know why but whenever he was there, she felt the weights pressing down on her lift itself, if only slightly. When he was here she felt comforted. She felt safe and it became easier for her to control her rapid breathing.

"I would drag Sakura-chan out for a round of snowball but I didn't want to get beaten up today. Plus I can't find Kakashi-sensei anywhere so he's probably mooching off some hot-chocolate from the Hokage tower and I didn't feel like finding him so I just ended up walking around."

There was a small pause where they could hear nothing but her rapid breathing. Naruto didn't think she was going to answer so he already had his mouth open in order to fill in the silence but stopped when he heard her tentative voice.

"Do y-you l-like the snow, Nar-ruto-kun?"

Relieved that Hinata's tears had stopped, he folded his arms behind his head. "Yeah. Of course I do. And not just snow either though, but just overall winter."

"W-why?".

That stuttered question confused him slightly and he drew a blank. "What do you mean why?" Naruto echoed.

"W-why d-do you l-like winter?"

"Well, why not?"

"B-bec-cause its a h-hrorible season," Hinata looked at the barren trees surrounding them and her eyes became glassy. "It's just s-so c-cold. The t-trees are empty. Th-he grass is f-frozen. T-the sun doesn't c-come out and s-shine a-as l-long as it sh-should and e-everything's dead."

Naruto frowned slightly. "Well yeah, I guess. That doesn't mean that winter's a bad thing that no one likes though."

"I'm s-sorry," Hinata said as she blinked at him, "b-but what do y-you mean b-by that?"

"I mean yeah it's pretty damn miserable but it's not a bad thing you know?"

"H-how?"

"Well," Naruto started off as he scooped snow beside him and let it fall through his hands while Hinata watched. "For one thing, it snowed this winter."

Hinata didn't see that as a good thing. Snow was cold, icy and sharp, miserably so. For Konoha to lose it's beautiful green leaves to be covered in snow what one of the despairing moments of winter.

"The snow is too cold," she said halfheartedly.

"Well duh, it's ice." Naruto scooped a huge ball and began to shape it with his hands. He tweaked the tops into two triangles and drew in six whiskers before poking in the eyes and the nose. "But it's fun because you can play with it like making it into stuff."

He held the cat looking snowball to her and looked at her expectantly. Hinata took the offering hesitantly, examining the ball at her hand. "I-is it a c-cat?"

"It's supposed to be a fox."

"Oh." Something inside her warmed slightly at his surly tone. She felt like she could smile again after a long time. "I-It's a v-very h-handsome fox."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah. Winter's so not a bad thing because it snowed this time and it doesn't usually snow in Konoha so we should appreciate it because it's like a rare thing you know?"

"I g-guess. I-I'm just n-not u-used t-to it b-being this c-cold."

"That's another reason to like winter!" Naruto said enthusiastically as he hugged his puffy self. "Being cold means you get to wear more things and I like feeling warm."

Hinata watched Naruto poke his nose through the hole that gaped near the end of his scarf and she let out a tired giggle as the scarf wrapped itself around his face. "I d-didn't k-know y-you h-had so m-many o-orange clothes, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, I didn't either but now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure everything in my closet is orange."

"It s-suits y-you. The c-colour o-orange."

"You think so?" Naruto asked. "Is it because I'm loud and shocking?"

She nodded. "And y-you're flambo-boyant as w-well a-as hav-ving a b-big appetite. T-the colour o-orange m-makes p-people hungry."

Naruto chuckled. "I am always pretty hungry. What about you, Hinata? Don't you like purple?"

Throughout this conversation she could feel herself thaw a bit but as soon as he mentioned purple she felt herself slipping back into the hole she had been it.

"P-purple people a-are c-considered t-to b-be d-day dreamers. T-they want to e-escape from reality."

Or escape from the pressures of being the heir of the Hyuga clan.

"Lots of people do that though, it's not just purple lovers. Kakashi-sensei said that he wants to take a vacation to somewhere completely different to Konoha. Somewhere where it snows all the time, not like here. A winter wonderland."

"W-wonderland?" Hinata scoffed bitterly. "T-there's n-nothing w-wondrous a-about winter. A-all t-the b-beautiful f-flowers are d-dead. T-there's n-nothing t-there to b-be wondrous."

"I don't think it's like that, Hinata."

"Huh?" she asked as she fixed her eyes onto his profile. He was looking at the trees in front of them in awe as he spoke.

"I think the wondrous thing about winter is the spring to come."

"W-what d-do y-you mean, Naruto-kun?"

"The wondrous thing about winter, even if it's a really really rough winter, is the spring that comes next. Knowing that even though the flowers are dead, something new, something more beautiful will grow in its place." Naruto spoke softly, his whisper louder than anything else he could have said. "That's why it's a wonderland you know? You can only wonder what grows in its place."

As if he spoke straight to her heart, she felt warmth begin to seep into her skin, fully penetrating it. She felt his light. She felt his radiance. Like a moth to a flame, she wanted to touch his warmth, his confidence so that it in turn could embrace her and let herself melt in them.

But then she realised that the warmth came from a scruffy yellow knitted scarf wrapped around her neck. She could only touch them in wonder as she saw his exposed neck.

"N-Naruto-kun, I c-can't-"

"Hinata, it's okay." She stopped as he turned to look at her. "I heard about how your last mission was a failure."

"Y-yeah," she whispered, fingers digging into the scarf, holding it as a lifeline and fighting back tears. "It w-was a b-bad one."

"But that's okay because we're proud failures remember?" Naruto chimed in. "We just gotta get up and keep on going. Someday people are going to look at _us _in wonder because we're going to be awesome you know?"

He smiled his signature grin and Hinata could do nothing else but return it with a a blush warming her cheeks.

And if today was the coldest day of her life, Hinata considered that to be one of the warmest days of her life as well.

* * *

As the years grew by, Hinata learned many things.

She learned that being a ninja meant that death was always trying to catch her. She has, to some extent, the choice to minimise the risk of death, such as not kidnapping important clan heirs or anyone for that matter. It comforted her, as small and slight as it was, that what she did many years ago on a cold winter's day was something that every ninja knew they would face as they take on a mission.

She learned that sometimes death was inevitable. Every time she took a life, no matter unpleasant or indifferent they were, and every time she lost a loved one a little bit inside her withered away and died.

But every time a little bit inside her died, something else, something new, grew in its place.

It grew when she learned that Hanabi loved her cookies. It grew when Neji wore the sweater she knitted for him. It grew when Kiba and Shino decides to have dinner with her. Sometimes she just couldn't stop this warm feeling from making her pass out with happiness and alerting her friends.

She learned that this feeling grew when Naruto hogged the blankets when he was asleep. Even as he shoved his cold feet and hands under her, there it was, helping her tolerate his ridiculously cold skin. This feeling also applied to every bit of meat he stole with his chopsticks, every time she saw his shoes arranged next to hers and every time he grumbled about his day. It was always there, that little something inside of her.

It grew when she learned, with great eagerness, that she loved it when it was winter. It grew when she learned that she loved the snow, that she loved building snow men and she loved getting into snow fights. Happily, she learned that this feeling grew when infatuation grew into friendship before blooming into love.

And she knew that it was beautiful every time she wrapped the scruffy yellow knitted scarf around her neck and pressed her cheeks in its warmth.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh dear. Life caught up with me. I still got lots of Naruhina to proofread and post but I'll probably run on my own belated schedule. Anyways thank you for reading and feedback is always welcomed.


	7. Sleep

**A/N:** Time for some time travelling back in the month so hop on! Enjoy!

* * *

**Day 10 - Sleep**

* * *

Hinata thought Naruto had always looked the cutest when he was asleep. Lying on his back, eyes closed and arms tucked under his head, he fit the perfect image of a pitifully stressed Hokage who had fooled himself to thinking that taking a nap might somehow reduce the pile of paper sitting disapprovingly at his desk. Hinata doubted it could but Naruto was an adamant believer of this principle. Papers laid on top of each other in piles. Various coloured folders littered the top of desk and marking littered every line of paper that peeked out of these folders. The sheer amount of paper had made the rickety table even more unsteady as it looked like it would tremble and collapse at a drop of a feather and it had told her even more of how busy Konoha had been.

Feeling her instincts kick in she began straightening the papers on his table, placing them in neat piles. Her skills were honed in the fires of the battlefield which consisted of two hyperactive children, a moody baby and a doting father. The results were a minefield of toys , which Hinata had to nag them half to death to pick up before they even think about bending their bottoms, and several broken pieces of ceramics. As a result, her hands were swift. She organised it with an efficiency that even well oiled machines would be envious of.

While she diligently thumped the paper against the table, she heard a soft mumble coming out of Naruto.

"Soft," he mumbled, his eyes still closed and his peaceful expression calling her to him.

Intrigued, she moved closer to him until she was kneeling on the couch beside him and watching him sleep. A part of her scolded herself for watching him sleep, because to many people that would be considered creepy and obsessive, but Hinata couldn't help herself from watching him. It was a rarity that Naruto ever looked so tame. The only time where Naruto ever looked at peace was during sleep, the rest of his time was spent running, jumping, talking, tackling paperwork and, of course, avoiding paperwork. He did look so adorably cute so Hinata forgave herself for her trespass.

She lifted a finger to trace the whiskers which adorned his face. Slightly rough due to the stubble that threatened to grow around his face but otherwise, she thought it was perfect touching material. As if she didn't already had committed the feel of his whiskers as well as the contours of his cheeks into her memories, which she had multiple times but oh well, such delicious details deserved to be engraved into her mind again and again, she studied his sleeping face.

His cheek twitched, telling her finger to stop tickling him and Hinata complied. She instead moved her hand and sunk into his head, scratching him. Naruto looked like he wanted to purr. Hinata felt pleased that she could make him purr.

This was of course until he sighed out the wrong name. "Go away, Sasuke."

Hinata stopped her scratching. Her eyes squinted.

Then a chuckle came out of Naruto. "This is what you get for bothering my sleep." He yawned and turned sideways, his back to the cushions and faced her while his eyes are still closed. "Now keep on doing what you were doing."

"I'm not sure if I want to keep on scratching you." Hinata tilted her head in a question. "Perhaps I should ask Sasuke-san if he could scratch you for me."

"Come on, Hina," grumbled Naruto. "I like your scratches better, teme's too rough. Plus he doesn't even kiss me after." Naruto puckered his lips at her expectantly.

"Hm..." she hummed. "A disadvantage indeed but maybe I should stop because Sasuke-san seems to be quite possessive."

Naruto made a protesting whine while still puckering his lips. The sight made her laugh so much that she just gave in and pressed her lips on to his. Practically sinking in his warmth, Hinata felt her earlier fatigue crashed into her like heavy downpour. She didn't realise she was this tired but it suddenly seeped into her how the fatigue made her bones sluggish, heavy and weak.

She sighed and they separated. He pulled her on top of him and let her nuzzle the crook of his neck as his hands settled comfortably on her stomach. Feeling quite content, Naruto finally asked, "So why's my lovely wife looking for me in the office?"

Hinata rested a hand on his chest. "Hmm...? Oh, I wanted to see if you wanted to go out and have lunch."

"That'll be nice, I've been wanting to take a break." Naruto yawned and Hinata looked at him pointedly. "A proper break, this one doesn't count."

"We haven't spent much quality time since Kou-chan was born so I thought we should do something together."

"Speaking of which, where's double trouble and Kou-chan?" Naruto asked.

Hinata giggled at the names Naruto had given their children. Trouble they were, mischievous in every way like their father. This meant that peace was very rare in the Uzumaki-Hyuga household. "Dropped them off at the compound. Father's teaching them how to fish with their hands."

"Even Kou?" Naruto had been surprised at how Hiashi had taken to their children. He seemed to thrive on directing their children's energy into something productive as much as Kakashi loved being called Hatake-sama.

"Even Kou. Father said that two years is not too young to start. They'll be home after dinner."

Suddenly, Naruto sat up straight keeping Hinata from falling off him. "Wait a minute. So all of our kids are gone?" he said, slowly processing her words.

"Yup. Till eight. We can finally have some peace and quiet." Hinata was slightly bothered by his upright position but she could still find a comfortable spot to lie on. Her husband was a nicely toned but still soft enough for her to sleep on. Right now, he was looking like he had something planned.

"So we're alone."

"Uh huh."

"It's just us two."

"Hai."

"Hinata, it's just us two."

She caught something in that tone of his. "Hm?"

"Hinata," he emphasised as he started sliding his hands up and down her back, sending small tremors throughout her nerve system, "I don't think you get it. It'll be just the two of us. Alone. And an empty house."

Hinata moved her head to whisper, "what are you trying to say, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm saying," Naruto signified, "that as of right now, we have an empty house with _no_ kids and free time. Do you know what happens between two adults when the house is empty and quiet with zero children around and when they have some free time?"

Finally understanding Naruto, Hinata felt hope bubble inside of her. "Can we really...?"

"Yup, I think we can." Naruto grinned at her, happy at seeing dreams fluttering over his wife's cute eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for Naruto-kun?" Hinata extracted herself from him by practically hopping and pranced to the door. "Come on, we don't have much time."

"Hold up," said Naruto as he summoned a shadow clone and sent him to the desk before catching up with Hinata. "I'm coming. We still have have hours don't we?"

And so after ditching all the paperwork to shadow clone the Hokage and his wife ran to their house, barged open the doors, hopped onto their bed and fell into deep, quiet slumber with a satisfied smile on their faces.


	8. Yin and Yang

**Day 14 - Yin and Yang**

* * *

This was one of those days where the air between them was thick with tension. Hinata slowly swallowed the dense air in pure stubbornness while sticking out her chin and regarded her husband. He sat across the table from her, his jaw hard and lips compressed. He was still dressed in his work robes, the orange and black which she loved. Yet the colours did nothing more than annoy her even more with its shocking brashness. It certainly caught everyone's attention as they arrived to the meeting in the Hyuga compound but not in a way that would benefit them.

She saw a muscle contract in his lower jaw and decided to come out with it. "Just say it," she bit out, her voice soft but sharp, "just say what ever it is you're thinking. It's not like anything had ever stopped you before."

"When did we become cowards, Hinata?" he asked bitterly. Naruto forced out a breath and looked at her, his eyes accusatory. "Tell me, Hinata. When did we decide to let them walk over us?"

"It's not that easy, Naruto-kun," she said slowly.

"When did we decided to become bloody mats and let them walk all over us, no, _spit _on us without fighting back, huh Hinata?" His voice grew increasingly strained. "Because that's what it felt like we did today, we just sat there like a damn dog and nodded while they decided to-"

"I said it's not that easy!" she said as her eyes flashed and her nostrils flared. "It's never that easy! It took me a long time to plan this meeting with them and you have just wasted all our time and efforts with how disgustingly you behaved!"

"What the hell was I supposed to do?!" he yelled, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "Just sit there and let them _seal _our child and future children without fighting? They're our god damn children and if you would just grow a backbone instead of always bending under the elder's thumb we might get some damn results!"

"But that's not how you do it!" Her fists clenched tightly and her voice grew hysterically high. "That's not how you do it with them! You can't just barge in yelling and swinging your fists everywhere because it doesn't work here but that's what you did! You just let your mouth run free and because of them, we might not be able to get the chance to abolish this seal until after Nejiko is sealed!"

"They will never get the point if you don't ever stand up and tell them!"

"Use some subtlety, Naruto-kun! I know you can do it, you know you can do it, you just did not want to bother with the effort as usual!"

He took a deep breath to calm himself but already "Oh please," he scoffed, "where will subtlety get us? You and Hiashi have been blindly obeying them for too goddamn long so now they feel no need to listen to you because of you have babied them with their every bloody wish!"

"I have never-" she stop to emphasise her mouth movements, "never questioned why you kept chasing and forgiving a man who had tried to kill you multiple times because I trusted you so why didn't you just trust me to handle this meeting?!"

"Because this is different to Sasuke! I let that clan of yours teach our child and all I see is them trying to fill her with their unnecessary routines and prejudices -"

"Traditions, Naruto-kun," she corrected irritatedly, "They are traditions. Important traditions to the Hyuga clan."

"-prejudices," he continued, deliberately ignoring her statement, "in hopes of turning her into another uptight, obedient member of that clan of yours."

"Obedience is not a bad thing, Naruto-kun! Especially to our elders. You're not infallible, Naruto-kun, being Hokage means nothing to them when they have the connections and the influence to overthrow you in sec-

Their argument was interrupted by a knock on their front door. Breathing heavily, their faces were red and throats were clogged with resentment and fury. Hinata decided she would be the one to break their stare and got up to let their guest into the kitchen. The tension between them was still palpable when she let Shikamaru into the kitchen and silently got herself busy with the dishes in the sink.

If Shikamaru knew that he had found himself in the middle of a domestic, and he did by observing Naruto's tightly clenched fists, he didn't acknowledge it. There was no way he would get dragged in into his boss' troublesome domestics on top of the news he wasn't looking forward to delivering. He knew that underneath his lazy exterior laid a stern and sombre expression that was notable to Hinata and Naruto. Indeed, Naruto's fist began to loosen as he wordlessly questioned the look on his face.

Shikamaru took in a slow breath. "A body was found today, in the forest east of Konoha."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. A dead body found in the forest was not unusual where there were many unlucky civilians, many bandits and rough terrains. To have Shikamaru report it straight to him meant that this person died in an unusual way worth mentioning and investigating. He saw from the corner of his eye that Hinata had put down the dishes to listen to Shikamaru and he signaled him to continue.

"The body's face was slashed until it was unrecognisable but he wore a Konoha headband around his head. Investigation of the body found that he died by poison and not just any poison," reported Shikamaru, "he died by venom. Venom commonly found in snakes of the western forest."

Naruto felt his body go cold. He sat up straighter as suspicion tingled on his neck and turn his blood into ice as he considered the possibility. "In the east forest you say? The only team that is assigned to that area currently is..."

"Team 6 led by Sarutobi Konohamaru," Shikamaru confirmed. "We think that the body might be Konohamaru's. As of now he is being announced as dead-"

"What did the blood test say?" Naruto interrupted.

Shikamaru shifted unconsciously. "They are doing it right now as we speak."

"Then un-announce him to be dead," ordered Naruto. "I want confirmation first. I want the blood test and medical records to match before we announce him to be Konohamaru."

"As you wish Hokage-sama." Shikamaru only addressed him formally when situations became dire and thus, it did not help the dread that began swelling in his stomach. Then another thought came to him.

"You said Team 6, Shikamaru," Naruto pointed, "What of the genins?"

There was a beat of silence as Shikamaru swallowed his throat. The dread that clouded them grew and almost consumed them and Naruto was grateful that Hinata came and laid her hands upon his shoulder, their fight forgotten for this moment. Their weight and warmth served as an anchor to him in a situation that felt unreal. He decided to ask him again, "What of the genins, Shikamaru."

"Missing. All three are missing with no traces of them at the sight of the unrecognisable body but a decapitated snake," he said and his tongue felt swollen with sadness as he continued, "a decapitated western snake known to be the favourite of the Snake Sannin."

Hinata took a sudden breath in. "You mean..."

"Yes. There is a high probability that they have been kidnapped by Orochimaru," to which he practically spat out the name, "to become his test subjects. As of now, Kakashi-sensei is combing over his empty residence which looked to have been unoccupied for at least two months."

Naruto tried to stop the guilt from choking him as he monitored his breathing. "What of Sasuke?"

"Sasuke was found and detained. He went with Sai without a struggle or a word."

To some point Naruto felt relief that Sasuke was not involved. Although his new resolve to protect Konoha for Itachi was full of good intention, some of his methods were questionable. However, over the years Naruto and Sasuke had built a new, stabler and more understanding relationship between them but at the same time, they both had secrets which they had kept away from each other.

Naruto couldn't stop the bile at the back of his throat. He felt utterly disgusted with himself as it was because of him that they have found themselves in this situation. So attuned to his moods, Hinata let her thumb stroke the back of his neck in comfort before she whispered softly, "Naruto-kun..."

"Let him go."

Shikamaru looked surprised and slightly enraged. "What? Naruto this is not the time for your bond with that-"

"It's not about that, Shikamaru." Naruto folded his hands in front of him. "Orochimaru's experiment are against the Konoha that Sasuke protects. He's with us. Let him go and tell him to prepare a team that will be ready to raid Orochimaru's lair at a moments notice. I want Kiba and Akamaru to comb out that forest and Shino to comb out the western one when he finishes with his other mission. I will send Hinata out with Kiba soon. As of now, Orochimaru is declared to be a missing-nin with a handsome reward to anyone that can supply us information about his activities. Get the word out immediately."

Shikamaru nodded but his expression did not lighten one bit. If anything else, it grew more clouded as he stayed to address one more thing before he left. "Naruto... information got leaked. People are talking, questioning you. It'll be best if you ignore them..."

"It's all right, Shikamaru-kun," said Hinata kindly. "I will deal with the civilians. Please get the teams ready as instructed and Naruto will be with you soon."

Shikamaru saluted and left. Only then did Naruto bury his hands in his hair and clenched it tightly, elbows on the table. He tried to take comfort in Hinata's presence but he couldn't stop his heart from being consumed with pain as he considered that Konohamaru could be the dead body on the cold slab.

"Here I go again, barging in yelling and swinging fists," Naruto spat out bitterly, "I've got a whole team of elite ninja ready to jump-"

"Stop it Naruto-kun."

"- and the whole civilian population ready to jump at my throat because I was stupid enough to pardon that piece of shit because of my stupid naivety and now children, _little children, _ will be paying for my mistake-"

"Naruto-kun," Hinata kneeled beside him, took his face into her hands and made him look into her eyes. "Stop it Naruto-kun and _breathe._"

He had screwed up. He had screwed up so badly and felt like the failure people had told him he was years ago. An unworthy failure. He couldn't even describe the turmoil that was bubbling inside of him so he just settled to sighing her name.

Hinata pressed her forehead against his while he closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, pressing his clammy hands on top of hers. Comfort washed over him. The touch reminded him of everything he was to her; her hero, her best friend, her love but, more importantly, her flawed husband. It reminded him that although he had messed up, here is the one person who would accept him and stand by him as worked to clean up his mess. Naruto didn't understand what she saw in him. He didn't understand why she stayed with him when they were so different and clashed horribly together sometimes but he was glad that she chose him. Coming home to her was like the last puzzle sliding into an incomplete picture. She was everything he was not and everything he needed. He treasured her touch and the knowledge that even after a fight between them she was still trying to comfort him. He never thought that he could find the one person that complemented him the most but he was lucky that she was the most caring and wonderful woman that he knew, despite her reserved and quiet nature.

And finally, Naruto could think clearly again. He began to plan out whatever they needed to track Orochimaru's lair and went down the list of ninjas available in Konoha. He inhaled her scent once more knowing that he had to go.

"Thank you, Hinata," he said, "I'm so glad you're not like me."

Hinata chuckled. "I'm glad you're not like me too, Naruto-kun."

* * *

**A/N:** For this Yin Yang prompt I tried to show their opposite-ness in their argument and how inevitably they both fit and are interdependent to each other to a certain extent. Reading a page of the philosophy of Yin and Yang is like reading a list of Hinata and Naruto's characteristics. I hope this is a really big hint from Kishimoto for end game pairing.

I will be away for a week so I won't able to post anything during that time. Just a heads up incase you're wondering. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


	9. School Days

**A/N: **This is part one of an AU thing that I have written up. Part two may come out after I finish editing another different one-shot for NH month. Another note is that school is starting so I may have to cut down on my writing sadly. Thanks for reading and enjoy. Feedback is always welcomed.

* * *

**Day 17 - School Days**

* * *

She struggled to breathe. Air clogged in her throat, refusing to move and instead following the still and frozen state of her hands. She couldn't believe what was happening to her. She only had dreamed of this moment. She had dreamed of this day for so long and finally, it was coming true.

Uzumaki Naruto was sitting next to her in class.

She then tried to stop hyperventilating because she really did not want to have a panic attack right when the moment of her dreams were coming true. Oh goodness, what if Naruto thought she really was weird? They've been sitting beside each other for ten minutes now and she hadn't stop staring at him. She should stop staring at him. She didn't want to stop staring at him, though. Besides she probably wouldn't be able to stop staring at him from just her will power when he himself had snapped an irritated,"what?" five minutes into her staring. She should tell him that this was the good kind of staring, if only she could move. It probably didn't help as well that she had only blinked four times in total and had not moved her neck away once. Oh no, she was probably weirding him out. That's why he hadn't moved from his position for the last five minutes.

While the internal conflict raged on inside Hinata, outside she looked as frozen as a statue. Naruto gave up finding what her problem was with him and slumped forward looking at the whiteboard. God, he was tired. He really shouldn't have challenged Sasuke to five sprinting laps around the school this morning. They ended up tying anyway behind Lee. Lee was a superhuman, being the protégé of their gym coach, Gai, so there was no way he could have beaten him in the first place but his only goal was to beat Sasuke. Now fatigue made his eyelids heavy. He only wanted to sleep, recuperate before challenging Sasuke again and he definitely wanted the girl beside him to stop staring at him. It was making him uneasy.

Their teacher came in carrying a heap of paper. He lugged it onto the table before announcing to the class that this was a practice test for next month's exam. A chorus of moans, groans and retorts in typical teenage form was their reply as he started handing out the test. When he came to Hinata, he found that he was one short of giving it to Naruto.

"Ah, sorry Naruto," said Iruka, his scared nose crinkling into a smile, "You are our unlucky last. I'll just take Hinata's and go out photocopy it. I'll be back in a few minutes."

It wasn't even until Iruka stepped out when the whispers started.

"He shouldn't even bother giving him a test when he would just fail anyway."

"He's an Uzumaki. How do we know that he won't get up and shoot everyone one day?"

"It's also because his dad is the famous Namikaze Minato, they had to let them in."

An eye twitched as his lips compressed together. Distress radiated off Hinata at his own distress. Swallowing her fear and anxiety, she ripped a piece of paper off her book and began writing before sliding it to him.

_I think you can do it. Don't listen to them._

A blond eyebrow raised in scepticism. "I don't. But shouldn't you be afraid that I might blow up and stab you?"

Hinata felt slightly embarrassed. Here she was trying to comfort someone who ended up not needing it and made her self look stupid. But she couldn't back down now, not when she just been able to talk to him.

_My father says you are your mother's son. Not your grandfather's._

"And my mother was my grandfather's son," he scoffed, "Why are you even trying to comfort me anyway? Why are you always staring at me, always following me everywhere I go? Is it because I'm Uzumaki Kurama's grandson and you're watching so I don't kill anyone? And why won't you talk?"

She shrunk at those questions thrown at her. Yes she had been following him around everywhere but at least she thought she had been discrete. Feeling slightly hurt, but slightly defiant she wrote:

_Because._

He looked incredulously at the paper. "Because?," he echoed, "Just a 'because'? That's complete bullshit."

Like a knife ripping through her, Hinata flinched slightly. His words were unexpected and a second passed before she stuck out her chin and her hands wrote shakily.

_You're such a meanie._

And they fell into an uncomfortable silence with neither of them wanting to catch the other's gazes. Whether Naruto felt guilty from hurting her was not important to her, she only felt the aching pain at Naruto's words tearing into her. Her friends warned her about him, about his rough and often cruel nature due to his obliviousness and she was an idiot for thinking that he would treat her differently because truthfully, they didn't even know each other. Well, he didn't know her, she had done plenty of watching to get herself acquainted with him. They wouldn't have gotten along anyway. He constantly challenged any form of authority while she obeyed them. Yes they wouldn't have fit, not in this world.

Picking up her pen as the teacher came in and placed the paper on her desk, she forced herself to focus on the test instead of the blond boy who slumped next to her.

* * *

"Naruto was trying to pick a fight with Sasuke-kun again today," said Sakura, stabbing her fork into her food. Hinata did not blame her, her own food was so hard that she probably needed an axe to cut into it. "Why won't he just leave Sasuke-kun alone? Sasuke-kun has a lot to deal with already and he doesn't need Naruto to add to it."

The blonde girl across from her snapped open her compact and touched up on her makeup, leaving her food untouched. "Well it's not really one hundred percent Naruto's fault when Sasuke-kun looks pretty fired up as well. I would agree with you forehead but I've been really enjoyed their challenges lately, especially when they do them shirtless."

Hinata and Sakura blushed at the thought of the their last challenge yesterday. The shirts of the boys had mysteriously disappeared and they were both secretly happy about that.

"Watch out, they might start drooling soon."

The last girl sitting on their table smiled at Ino's open pervertedness. Her name was Tenten and she was one of Hinata's best friends. Today it was just the girls sitting together as Kiba and Shino were in a band meeting. Tenten waved her hand. "But enough about that Ino. You said that you had a really juicy gossip that's fresh from the oven."

Ino's eyes glinted as she placed her compact on the table and leaned forward in excitement. The glint in her eye and the fact that Ino placed her make up on table told her that the gossip was something she thought was quite juicy. "Oh yes. Guess what Naruto's been up to lately?"

Sakura scowled. "Following Sasuke-kun?"

Tenten swallowed her food. "Chasing Sasuke?"

Hinata's ears perked at his name before it deflated when she remembered what happen today in class. "Having a dispute with Sasuke?"

"Nope, nope and _nope,_" denied Ino, a grin threatning to break free. "Naruto's been a busy boy but I can tell you that it wasn't with Sasuke."

All around the table the people were slightly puzzled.

"Today he beat up some people who were giving Shikamaru-kun and Choji-kun a hard time and-"

"Well if it's just about him beating up people then its not really juicy gossip anyway," said Sakura.

"Shut up, I was getting to the good part." Ino scrunched her nose with distate. Anyway apparently he asked Choji to make him some of his delicious chocolates in return and that wouldn't be as if he didn't ask them to be _gift wrapped._"

The table was silent as they considered the potential of Ino's gossip. The giving of Akimchi chocolate is considered sacred in Konoha High. Akimchi chocolate were beyond what the supermarket sold and were only available by the famous Akimchi bakery of which Choji's father ran. To give Akimchi chocolate to someone else was to slice a piece of heaven and bring it onto the earth. Hinata has only ever had them once and she had died and come back alive twice fold within the first bite. They were that good.

"That doesn't really mean much," pointed out Tenten. "It could just be another try of his to get Sakura to go out with him."

"It probably is, Ino-san," Hinata agreed, her old and small jealousy at Naruto's attention to Sakura had dulled but it still made her heart hurt a bit.

"Well, yeah," Ino said, not wanting them to dismiss her gossip as idle. "It could be that... Or it could be something else. We just don't know."

Sakura thought a bit before adding, "Ino-pig is right. It could be something else. I mean, he's always bugging me to go out with him but the last time Naruto asked me out was a week ago and he usually does it everyday. "

"Speak of the fox and he shall appear: there he is."

As Tenten's voice rang out, all four turned their heads and there was Naruto striding towards them, hands in his pockets and the tails of his headband flying fearlessly. He looked ridiculously gorgeous and the wind added to that effect. Where normally the wind would blow strands of hair irritatingly into her eyes, block her breathing passage and made her squint unattractively, this was not what happened with Naruto. It blew his hair away and took attention into his jawline moving slightly. Her poor heart was accelerating because he looked stunning even in the wind. A skill that Hinata wished she had.

Then she remembered that she was still hurt because of him so she willed herself to look down on her food and fiddled with her fork. This was until a shadow fell over her tray and she looked up to see that he had stopped quite abruptly in front of her, his hands buried in his pocket and he opened his mouth to say something before Ino interrupted.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Ino asked, not even trying to hide her curiosity in her tone.

She was ignored of course. Naruto ruffled his hands inside his pocket before shoving a box at her. "Here."

To say that the whole table was surprised was an understatement. There is his hands was a box covered in shiny wrapping paper and a bow on top. Attached to the bow was a card with the words _Akimchi chocolate_ written in neat and slanted handwriting.

Hinata was shocked. She had prepared herself to think that the chocolate was intended for Sakura, not for her so she did not know how to react. Her dreams were absolutely coming true today, excluding the down of him snapping at her in class this morning. Not only did he sit next to her in class but he was now giving her chocolate. She wanted to squeal in delight but being who she was, she just sat as brittle and still as stone, openly staring at him. Her tongue wanted to thank him but it felt thick, swollen and immobile. She better say something however, just sitting there still with her eyes widened and jaw gaping open was starting to tick him off. She could see from the hardening of his own jaw and as he raised his eyebrows.

Naruto made an annoying growl at the back of his throat. "Well aren't you going to accept it?"

Well yes, she is going to accept it. Now if she could just move her hands.

Seeing absolutely no movements coming from her, he sighed and placed the box beside her tray of food gently, completely contrasting the way he shoved the box at her before. Looking down at his feet, feeling slightly regretful, he grumbled under his breath.

His grumblings snapped her out of her stupefaction. She didn't hear anything so she asked, "Pardon me?"

"I said," Naruto grumbled out louder, his rough voice oddly comforting to her, "I'm sorry for being mean to you."

If they weren't sitting as comfortably and stable as they did, Hinata was pretty sure that her and her friends would have keeled off their chairs in shock. "T-thank you, Naruto-kun but I can't-"

Recovering quickly, Ino, being the busybody that she was, jumped in. "She can't accept it. You can't just be mean to Hinata and expect to be forgiven with just chocolate."

He could actually. He probably has but Naruto was unaware of this. He only scowled at her words before biting off, "I was saying sorry to Hinata. Not you, Ino."

Ino was undeterred. "Well I'm speaking for Hinata's stead when her throat's practically parched from crying."

Normally tears only annoyed him but the thought of making Hinata cry made the guilt that churned in his stomach swish harder and he looked at her in remorse. "I made you cry, Hinata?"

"N-no you didn't-"

"You made Hinata cry. You made the nicest girl in the whole school cry by being mean to her. How could you, Naruto?" Sakura jumped in, her question asked in mock-disgust. She could tell it was mock-disgust from being her friend for almost forever but Hinata wasn't sure that Naruto could tell the difference.

He couldn't. He was shuffling his feet uneasily as he buried his hands in his pocket. "Oh."

"Hinata's hasn't eaten anything at all today and you were probably the cause," Tenten pointed at him with her fork, a glint of mischief in her eyes, akin to Ino's and Sakura's eyes.

Hinata had been trying to butt in constantly but her small voice was easily drowned in her friends' constant exagerrations. "Uh, guys..."

"Look she's tiny, she doesn't need to lose her appetite because of you being mean to her."

"Or become dehydrated from crying because of you."

"Or have you being mean to her all day."

"Hinata doesn't need that in her life."

"Enough!" Naruto snapped. "I get it already! You. Hinata. Come with me."

Naruto grabbed her hand in his and pulled her up from the table. Her face flushed bright red as she was yanked out of the table. She quickly took the box and let him tug her across the courtyard. Hesitantly, she asked, "Uhm, Naruto-kun. W-where are we going?"

"We're getting ice cream. Away from your friends so I can apologise properly."

Her whole body turned warm at the prospect of spending time with him alone. Really, she couldn't believe it. That's three times her dreams came true today. She would have to mark this day on her calendar as the best day of her life.

Before he tugged her around the corner, Hinata glanced behind her and saw her dearest friends holding out their thumbs while grinning ear to ear.


	10. Meet the Parents

**A/N: **Second and probably last part to the AU thing before. I have written a one-shot with Hinata meeting Minato but decided it would be fun to write about the parents again. Sadly I lost the usb where most of the other prompts were written so in the delay I'm trying to rewrite them. I still have a couple more to go though. Feedback is always welcomed.

* * *

**Day 16 - Meet the Parents**

* * *

"Would you like to go over mechanics again?"

Hinata was tempted to poke the corpse that laid on the table, his arms encasing his face which laid slapped on the open textbook, but didn't think that he would appreciate it. She wasn't even sure if he was conscious, having stayed in that position for a good amount of time in silent. The silence was what worried her. He was rarely silent, even as he fell into slumber many times in class he always manage to chortle out a huge snore now and again to let everyone know that he was in the classroom, albeit in a very disruptive way.

"..Naruto-kun?"

She prodded his head with a pen and he grunted in response, destroying her suspicions of him being dead from boredom.

"Naruto-kun, are you awake?"

"I'm awake. I'm going to die of boredom though," he grumbled out.

Naruto sat up and stretched his arms in a big yawn. She sighed in appreciation as he watched his lithe and lean figure and tried not to let the heat in her cheeks completely consume her. Although the reason for them spending time together was tutoring, Hinata found that she also enjoyed Naruto's chatter and chirpy company but also having a closer view of Naruto. And having a closer view of Naruto she did. Her perverted thoughts were going on overdrive these past couple of weeks since they have been spending more time together. There were too many occurrences where he picked up the things she dropped without bending his knees, or him reaching up to grab things that were too high for her which made his body brush up against hers and left her squeaking an excuse as she ran to dab the blood out of her nose. He, of course, never noticed when she was ogling him. If he did she was sure he would have run the other way a long time ago.

He popped a joint in his shoulder. "I'm so done with Physics. Physics is so not my thing."

She let her cheek rest on the hand holding her pen. She was enjoying this way too much. "..Hmm?"

"It's like it's in another language. Nothing makes sense so I've accepted the fact that I'll fail. Besides, I'm not sure I'm going to need Physics later on in life."

"That's not true," she reassured, "I believe you have it in you to pass... if you'd only stop sleeping in class."

"I think you're asking too much of me."

"And," continued Hinata, "I'm sure you'll need physics for when you want to calculate the amount of force to hit Sasuke with in different situations."

He chuckled. "Yeah. I guess it'll be quite useful in that way. Hitting Sasuke is always fun."

"So how about we do question one again?"

He let out a sarcastic laugh. "No. How about we go get something to eat then watch a movie?"

Her mouth bent into a frown at his attempt to procrastinate. "Naruto-kun..."

"Come on, Hinata," he pleaded, "I promise I will do some work after the movie."

She sighed in defeat and he let out a holler as he packed his books with an enthusiasm and speed that were missing in the hours in which they had been studying. As he swung his bag over his back, he then proceed to talk about everything that was on his mind that was not physics. Hinata had thought that his talkative habits had come from his need to fill in the silence to detract from his loneliness when he was younger, and a part of that was true, but his talkative personality also stemmed from the fact that he liked to share everything that he thought about. She enjoyed listening to him and enjoyed the fact that if she spoke, he would bend his head towards her and listen to her carefully. This was probably because her voice was very quiet and she hardly projected it but it could also mean that he valued what she said. If she had to admit to herself she really did enjoy the attention.

They have been meeting to study almost everyday for a month. First it was him asking her to tutor maths to him on that fateful, and wonderful she might add, day when he gave her chocolate and treated her to ice cream. Then it was history and now physics. Elation flowed inside of her at the amount of time they are spending together even if it was just used for learning most of the times. It actually surprised her how focused he could be when he decides to be and likewise when he was distracted. As such, right now he was in a distracted mode and she had found it was best to let this distraction feeling run its course before they started again.

In a park beside close to the library, Naruto had just cajoled her to let him buy them lunch and her heart secretly fluttered. Like always, a bowl of takeaway ramen was asked for and curiously she ordered a lime milkshake before sitting down to eat at a secluded section of the park. The park barely had anyone in it considering the fact that it was lunch time. Must have been the soccer game that's happening over at the stadium. She took on sip of her milkshake and her face scrunched, lips puckered unattractively at its acidity. She heard a chuckle to her left. Hinata debated taking another sip of her milkshake when they heard a yell behind them.

"Hey its that Uzumaki bastard."

There were three men behind them, dressed in baggy shorts and ripped shirts on tattooed arms. They turned just as somebody shoved Naruto back, his ramen splashing all over his shirt. Hinata gasped in shock as she crawled out of the way of the flying ramen and struggled to stand up. Her jelly legs became still frozen when she saw that the leader, the middle man, was holding a baseball bat. Instead of being frightened as she was, Naruto snapped at them and bared his teeth.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?" he growled, moving to raise himself up only to be kicked in the stomach halfway by one of them. He let out a pained grunt and Hinata flinched with him as she willed her legs to move.

Just as the man moved to raise his bat, she pushed her legs and moved to stand between Naruto and the thugs, holding her arms out to stop them. "S-stop," she pleads, "P-please stop. Y-you have the wr-rong man."

"Hinata," Naruto tried to stand up behind her, "get out of the way. Run to the police station and get away."

"How cute," one of the man laughed out, his bark of laughter sending chills down Hinata's spine. Still she did not move out the way. Watching that man hurt Naruto sent her stomach churning and her insides flinching, she could not possibly leave him alone to face such things alone. She had self defence training but had never needed to apply it in real life but now her heart was beating too loudly in her ears and adrenaline coursed through as she tasted her dry tongue.

"Y-you," she stuttered out, against her best efforts to remain collected and tough, "Y-you m-must stop. You have the w-wrong man. H-he's is n-not the Uzumaki in w-which you're l-looking for."

"Move out of the way girlie," he warned lowly, "Or we might deal with you too."

"B-but y-you can't j-just go around be-beating up r-random people. Y-you ar-are unjustly attacking m-my f-friend w-while h-he and I w-were just-"

One of the men to the side scoffed. "Do you even know who that boy is girlie?"

"Oi! Don't interrupt her while she's speaking bastards!"

They of course ignored Naruto's yell. She was surprised they weren't ignoring her. It was unheard of to reason with gang members when they would probably discard any sort of reasoning and beat them up anyway. Deep inside Hinata, an inkling told her that whatever these men wanted were connected to Naruto's grandfather and she was correct when he confirmed it. The gang member continued on as if Naruto never spoken. "That boy's Uzumaki Kurama's grandson. We'd be doing you a favour getting rid of this runt before he blows off his cap and decides to shoot ya."

The name Uzumaki Kurama was famous around Konoha. It was the name of the most notorious Mafia leader the city had ever seen, ruling the streets with an iron fist and cruel attitude. Under his reign, prostitution, drugs and arms dealings thrived and this was only after they eliminated their competitors catching many civilians in their crossfire. Those were dark years for Konoha. Hinata understood why many would be suspicious of Naruto. He looked too much like his grandfather, excluding the blond hair, in looks, temperament and cunningness. Many flinched at Naruto's loudness because it was an echo of his grandfather's bellow where blood and bullet cases would always have been spilled as the outcome.

But Naruto wasn't like that, Hinata knew. She had been watching him from afar and she considered herself an expert on most things Naruto and he was nothing like that. Swallowing, she stuttered out, "B-but h-he is not."

They stopped in shock. "...Huh?"

"Y-you h-have t-the w-wrong man. H-he is not t-the Uzumaki p-person y-you sp-speak of. H-his name I-is I-Inoichi."

Naruto didn't say anything about her borrowing the name of Ino's father and she was grateful for that. Waves of tension drifted over them as they watch the thugs consider this new lot of information.

"Inoichi, huh? Then what about those whisker marks on his cheeks?"

"T-tattoos," she replied rapidly. "T-tattoos. W-whisker ma-arks a-are in style."

"Yeah right," scoffed out one of them. "Like we'll believe that."

"Of course it's in style!" Naruto huffed. "Since when did you guys know anything about upcoming style."

Hinata looked at Naruto sharply and he immediately snapped his mouth close. The fact that the thugs look like that they are considering their mildly outrageous explanations was giving her hope that the thugs would leave soon. She didn't want anything to convince them otherwise but Naruto's mouth had a tendency to destroy any chances of escape just by opening itself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the middle man spoke, "Well it's quite believable..."

They both let out a small sigh of relief...

"...If his bag didn't have his name written on it."

…and promptly froze still again as their eyes shot to Naruto's bag. There it was, blue vivid against the vibrant orange bag, Uzumaki Naruto.

Hinata heard him curse behind her and her arms moved without her brain's permission. Throughout this stressful ordeal it occurred to her somewhere that she still held the lime milkshake which made her face pucker before. She hoped it would do the same again but instead, she jerked her arms and watched as the green liquid splashed into his eyes. He screamed and dropped the bat while the two behind him jumped. She felt a hand on her shoulders pull her backwards before part of her vision was obscured by a shoulder.

"Hinata run."

But she wouldn't. Feet stuck to the ground she held her spot behind him, furiously trying to remember the martial arts lesson her cousin taught her.

Before they could jump into combat, a shrill of a whistle was heard. Turning their heads, they saw a man dressed in blue with the signature police hat running towards them. Swearing quite loudly, the thugs turned to run the other way, the one on the ground struggling to get up from the stinging of his eyes, which Hinata was secretly pleased for because they had the _nerve_ to interrupt her time with Naruto. She promptly felt slightly guilty at the thought. Should she really have been pleased at someone else's torment?

The shoulder in front of her moved to block her view from the police officer. She had to tiptoe to peek and see a man with a spiky white hair with his hat obscuring one eye and his collar obscuring his mouth. One eye scanned over them then arched in question.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders.

* * *

When she imagined her first time being in a car with Naruto, she had always imagined it would be with the windows down, arm slung over her, music played in between when they drove off for a date. She did not imagine it would be in the backseat of a police car with her hands sticky with sugar and the car smelling slightly of noodles. Scratch that, the last two was okay compared to the first. She was in a police car. _Oh dear, she was in a police car_. She had never imagined she would be in a police car. What would her father think of her if he saw her like this? He had been reluctant to let her hand with Naruto but if he somehow found out that they were both in a police car today, he would _freak_.

Hinata started fidgeting in her seat.

"Hey."

She turned sideways to see Naruto looking at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, holding up and pressing her index fingers against each other.

"No, I meant yeah but, are you okay-okay?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't do that. You're not supposed to do that." His hand caught one of hers, his warmth comforting her. "Hey, Hinata..."

The unsure note in his voice caught her attention so she asked, "Yes, Naruto-kun?"

He hesitated, pulling his hand back to tuck it into his pocket. "I'm sorry about today."

"What do you mean?"

He looked out to the window, looking slightly bitter and lost. "I'm sorry for ruining today, just like I always seem to do."

"You didn't ruin today." Shaking her head slightly, she debated whether she should touch him to try and ease that look but decided not to. "I don't think today was ruined at all."

"Hinata, please," he said tiredly. "You don't have to try to be nice about it. Just admit it. Everything was great until they came-" he practically spat out the last bit, "until the Uzumaki name ruined it."

"I'm not trying to be nice about it, really." She placed a hand on his arm. "Naruto I... I really enjoyed spending time with y-you."

He looked at her, doubt washing away at her smile. He managed to smile back at her and she felt like she had just accomplished something important. "Here I am obsessing about that like the rest of them. And I believe you."

"Believe me about what, sorry?"

"I believe you when you say aren't trying to be nice about it," he paused to watch her confused reaction before adding, "because you are just naturally nice about everything. You're pretty cute like that."

And her cheeks flushed red as she quickly retracted her hand and folded it in her lap. Naruto called her cute. She was cute to Naruto. She needed a moment to process this. She heard him laugh beside her and her blush deepened. When she felt the motion of the car stop and she almost jumped out of the car like it was burning. Well she certainly felt like burning from the way Naruto complimented her.

It was only then that she noticed that they did not stop by the police station. No, they didn't even stop by her house. Instead they stopped by a house unknown to her. A small panic nipped her at the back of her neck as she thought briefly that they may been kidnapped when she realised that the policeman was holding his fist up to knock on the door. The door swooshed open before the fist could make contact. A woman with red hair greeted them, her fringed clipped open to show a beautiful and stubborn face that seemed slightly familiar.

"Where is he?" the woman asked.

The policeman pointed behind him and then the woman did something completely unexpected to her. She ran up and flung her arms around Naruto, tightening with each second. Naruto awkwardly tried to pat her in the back while giving a slightly embarrassed and sheepish smile to Hinata. "Hey mum"

"Oh Naruto, I can't believe you got hackled by some thugs. Are you hurt? Are you okay? Are you hungry? I hope you beat them up good and showed them not to mess with you again. You cannot believe what your dad said when Kakashi called to tell us-"

"I'm fine, I'm fine mum, they ran when Kakashi came, can you let go of me I'm dying a bit," he wheezed out.

"Sorry," she said as she let him go. She was still taller than him but only just. In a couple of years, she was sure Naruto would beat her and her husband. She turned to the policeman, whose name she gathered was Kakashi, and hugged him. "Thank you Kakai-chan for bringing Naruto home. Will you stay to have some food?"

"Can't sorry." He tapped his hat. "Still on the job. I'll talk to you guys later. Tell the chief I said hi."

It was only then that Naruto's mum saw her. Her eyes drifted over to her and widened slightly. Trying to hide a grin, but failing miserably, her eyes were fixed onto her with so much intensity that she blushed slightly under it. Hinata was still struck with the knowledge that Naruto's mum was in front of her. She was meeting Naruto's mother so this must be Naruto's house. Oh my, she was at Naruto's house! Elation made her want to dance right now, even as there were people that might watch her but good sense gave her a sound no. Good sense told her to stand straight, head up and stop blushing like crazy because it was important to be her absolute best when meeting the parents of your future spouse, well hopefully your future spouse. However, the shyness that was embedded in her made her look down to the floor while eyes were on her. She made a move to open her mouth to introduce herself but when she looked up, Naruto's mother was already running into the house.

Did her silence weirded her out? She felt slightly deflated but that was before she heard the voice of Naruto's mother right into the house.

"Minato?! Minato! Come out here, Naruto's brought home a friend!"

"Mum!"

"Bring the camera with you! Naruto's brought home a friend and _she's not Sasuke!_"

"_Mum!"_

They heard footsteps as a shadow of a man emerged from the doorway. "What's all this fuss about Kushina?"

Something in her mind reminded her that she was about to meet the famous Minato Namikaze, chief of police and the man who brought the end of Uzumaki Kurama's reign. She expected a man tall and built with a hardened face, contrasting to his wife's soft beautiful features, and eyes that were hardened from years of police work. She expected a couple of tattoos from undercover jail work. She expected rough, beaten features that would hold the essence of Naruto as this was after all the man who, with the help of his wife, sabotaged the mafia to bring an end to the bloodshed. So she was surprised when the man emerged held the face of a blond blue-eyed angle while wearing a frilly apron and holding a tray of scones in his mitten covered hands.

Naruto snickered and leaned down to whisper to her, "that's my dad. The man whose name strikes fear into the hearts of others using the hands encased in those pink mittens."

Indeed his mittens were pink. And so was his apron. It did nothing to emasculate him, only to highlight his broad shoulder and chest. Seeing both of his parents, Hinata knew that both of them were to thank for Naruto's handsome features. And maybe one day she could thank them, if she weren't still frozen by their beauty.

"Look, Minato! This is Naruto's friend. Isn't she cute?"

And once again all eyes turned towards her and she couldn't help but blush. Really, she was surprised that she hasn't fainted yet and if her friends were her, they would commend her for the achievement. Naruto though began scowling once he saw her blush. "Guys, you're making her feel embarrassed. Stop it, she's sensitive to this kind of stuff."

Which made her blush even more. God bless Naruto's mouth.

"Naww," Kushina teased. "Okay we'll stop. We'll stop even though it's so much fun. Besides, I don't think I've introduced myself."

Kushina made a pretense of standing up straight and looped her arm around Minato, mindful of the tray that Minato held. "I am Kushina and this is my lovely hubby Minato and we are Naruto's parents. I'm afraid he failed to inherit any of our beauty traits sadly."

"Hey!" Naruto placed an undignified hand on his cheek. "You told me I looked like Dad."

Minato choked out a chuckle. "Is this true, Kushina? I feel slightly offended."

"I-I'm..," she tried out, ".. Hinata. Hyuga Hinata."

Both Kushina and Minato gave her a soft smile at her shyness and their sympathies made her even more conscious of her old stuttering habit. How she wished her stuttering would go away indefinitely especially for moments like this. She caught Naruto's eye and Naruto helped to change the subject when he asked about something that's been bothering him.

"Hey Dad," he began, pointing at the tray, "Why did bring a tray outside?"

Minato looked down at the tray and looked surprised himself. "Hmm tray? Oh yes, tray. I was taking something out of the oven when your mother called me out."

"Oh your dad can be so clueless sometimes." Kushina pinched one of his cheeks slightly before kissing it with an easy show of affection that made Hinata sigh wistfully.

"Baking?" Naruto looked disgustingly horrified. "Dad please don't poison us."

"Be nice Naruto! Minato's been sweating his butt off in the kitchen to make these for you on his only day off you know!"

"Don't you mean that Dad's tired of having us as a family and he wants to get rid of us so he can have a new one?"

"His baking's not that bad, Naruto. Stop exaggerating."

"Yes it is! Do you not remember the time when I almost..."

As those two fell back into their fighting habits, Minato gave Hinata a sweet smile and addressed her politely. "Would you like some of my baking Hinata-san?"

Hinata in turn gave him a shy smile and a nod. She took one of the scones, bit into it and was pleasantly surprised at how sweet it was. She had never tried sweet scones before.

"How does it taste like?" Minato asked.

She swallowed to answer and smile at him again, reassuring him that she was still alive, disproving Naruto's theory before taking another bite. "Delightful Minato-san. I have never tried sweet scones before."

He looked down at them and frowned slightly. "Well that's because these are supposed to be cookies..."

Hinata coughed and choked slightly on her scone.

"...and I'm not sure how they became this big or thick. But if it tastes good, I suppose that'll be okay."

"Yes it t-taste's very good," Hinata nodded for reinforcement. "And Naruto-kun w-will think so too. He likes sw-weet things."

"Speaking of him, may I ask what you two got up to today?" Minato was viewing her eating his scones-er, cookie with so much pleasure that his eyes were almost permanently closed from his signature smile.

"Oh yes. T-today we w-went to the library to study."

"Ah yes! You must be the mysterious tutor he keeps talking about."

Hinata nodded. "Y-yes. That w-would be m-me. T-today we were st-studying Physics."

Minato raised an eyebrow and his face looked thoughtful. "You're tutoring him on Physics?"

"H-hai, I'm tutoring him on Ph-physics."

"What's this about Physics?" asked Kushina, breaking off from her conversation slash fight with Naruto.

"Apparently Hinata here has been tutoring Naruto on Physics."

"Really? Isn't physics your best subject?" she turned to Naruto to ask, missing the slightly caught expression of his. "I thought physics was your thing."

Naruto tried to pass off a fake laughter. "Ha. I'm not quite sure about that mum."

"But didn't you win a scholarship based on physics and Iruka-chan said that you were doing quite well in physics and –oh. _Oh."_

"_Oh," _Minato echoed, his eyes crinkling into a smile. Within a few seconds of each other, their faces broke off into huge devilish grins. Naruto almost began visibly sweating while Hinata looked confused and glanced rapidly between the three of them.

"Pardon me, Kushina-san? I think I m-might have m-missed something."

"Oh." Kushina's grin grew even more mischievous. "Well Hinata, it seems that-"

"Hey, woah, I just remembered that Hinata and I didn't really get to have any lunch and we're really _really _hungry." Naruto grabbed Hinata by the shoulders and directed into the house at steadily accelerating pace matching the tone of his voice. It should have caused suspicions within Hinata but she was absolutely floored at the sensation of his hands on her shoulders to question anything. "We should all grab something to eat and continue stuff like this later when we're all full."

Keeping the grins on their faces, Kushina and Minato followed their son inside like the dutiful parents they were.


	11. Caught in the Rain

**Day 22 & 23 - Caught in the rain & Staying warm by the fire**

* * *

She blew a cold breath and placed her hands near the fire, letting warmth penetrate her stiff fingers. Across from her Naruto did the same but, being Naruto, he couldn't help himself from mumbling his displeasure. They were both drenched; hair plastered, flax jacket soaked and shirt sticking miserably. Hinata considered herself a quite patient person but having her damp shirts rub roughly while jumping through trees was just one of those experiences which was enough to make her want to cry with frustration. Not even being in Naruto's company was enough to keep her going through the rain.

Now they sat in a cave, well far from the entrance that they could still hear the steady drum of rain. Naruto managed to find usable wood and made a little fire while she placed rocks in a ring while they settled into a companionable silence. Now that she thought about it Naruto had been quite quiet these couple of days during their mission and it was not an okay silence but at the same time it wasn't a bad silence, Naruto just had a tendency to fall into deep thoughts during this mission more than he usually did, even though he rarely did because he was Konoha's iconic knucklehead.

"Hey Hinata, do you have blankets in your pack?"

That reminded her that she did pack blankets. She packed two and she was proud of herself because of it. Using blankets while they were this wet would get it quite wet as well. "Yes I do. Would you like one, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah. Could you toss one here?"

Lying the blanket on the ground beside the fire, he went through a couple of hands signs before he grinned at her. "Look at this."

Grunting something she couldn't quite hear, she was quite surprised to see a wooden pole rise out from the ground. It stopped on Naruto's knees and he looked at her, blue eyes expectant.

She gave him a quizzical look. Was she suppose to praise him now? She wasn't really sure what he did but she praised him anyway because he looked so happy on what he had achieved. "Oh, that's great, Naruto-kun."

He saw the slightly quizzical look on her face but took her compliment anyway, looking slightly cheered. He then began unzipping his jacket and shrugging it off and Hinata felt a bit light headed looking at him. She was used to muscles, Kiba and Shino were quite defined, but she liked Naruto's the best. Naruto's hands went down to his pants and she looked away blushing, unprepared to see that much of him.

Naruto chuckled. "It's alright, I'm wearing boxers."

He sat on the blanket and tossed his clothes over the pole before watching it. She didn't realise she was shivering until he mentioned it.

"Hinata, grab your blanket and join me."

Which left her with a dilemma. She could die a cold death of freezing or die from her face being exploded at close skin contact with Naruto. But then a gust of cold wind blew into the cave, flickering the fire, and she made a decision. Shrugging out of her clothes until it was only her singlet and panties, blushing madly the whole way, before wrapping the blanket around her and sitting down beside him, a good space beside him, which he noticed and he scuttled closer before sneaking a hand around her and pulled her so she was closer to him. Grabbing one edge of the blanket, and being oblivious to her face blushing furiously, he made sure that the blanket covered him as well.

They sat like that, treasuring the warmth their skin radiated and watched the fire dance madly in front of them. Hinata felt her ears tickle at Naruto's breath.

"Sakura told me she loved me."

Hinata felt herself freeze slightly, all heat leaving her body. A different sensation began filling her now, a feeling of despair and pain.

"Sakura told me she loved me and she wanted me to give her a chance. She even kissed me."

She didn't know how to react to that. She really didn't. A twist in her stomach and a swelling pain in her chest grew. Averting her eyes away from his face, she tried to bury that stabbing pain and whispered, "And what did you... what did you do?"

There was a beat of silence. Before he said firmly, "Nothing."

She pulled the blanket tighter around her, as if to keep herself from spilling of heartbreak and gave it a small tug. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," he confirmed. "I did nothing about it."

His reply gave no detail, no clue as to what he was feeling. For someone so usually open and chatty, this strange for Naruto. So she tried poking a bit. "What do you mean when you said you did nothing?"

"I meant nothing. I didn't move while she kissed me and I didn't feel anything. She got angry after that but still, I felt nothing."

Eyes fixed on the flames, he paused. Letting the musty smell of damp dirt mix with the slightly sweet scent of vanilla from Hinata's shampoo. He could just lie in that scent all day if he could, it was a refreshing contrast to the smell of warm salted pork broth, and he acknowledged that anything was sweet and favourable to his senses of Hinata wore it. Even Akamaru's smell was tolerable when it was on Hinata and distasteful on Kiba. His senses were picky like that. Naruto took the scent in and continued, sensing that she wanted him to elaborate of what had happened.

"I expected to feel something, you know?" he asked her. "I expected to feel a bit of the old crush to come back or feel grossed out or maybe even tiredness from always dealing with her fluctuating emotions but I didn't. I felt nothing."

Her stiff shoulders loosened slightly. "Is that good?" she inquired quietly.

"Yeah," he said, vacantly pressing himself closer to her. "That's good because it confirmed something for me."

She let him press himself closer to her. Let him weave an arm around her waist and move her over his lap, wrapping the blanket solidly over them. Inside she was flustered that they were so close, but outside where her skin still prickled miserably from the cold and wet hair, she let herself move towards this bright radiant warmth. Naruto pressed his cold lips against her cheek, moved it closer to her mouth with each second and felt her shock as he mumbled, "It confirmed to me... It showed me.. that Sakura's not the one that I want."

And his lips sunk into hers. She was too shocked to do anything to but relish the warmth. It lasted for a second, for two seconds, for three before it moved away from her own and Naruto buried his head on the crook of her shoulder. Then the shock subsided to joy, quiet joy as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

He nuzzled her on the side of her neck. "Do you still love me, Hinata?"

She curled the fingers in his hair and rested her cheek against him. "I still love you, Naruto."

He rested his chin on her shoulder. "I don't feel like a weapon when I'm with you."

And there it was. This boy broke her heart in so many ways. She kept on stroking his hair as she whispered in his ear. "You're not a demon. You're not your tailed beast. You're not a weapon because you are Naruto-kun and do you know what Naruto-kun is?"

He shook his head.

"Always hungry."

He chuckled at that but let her continue, keeping her close to him.

"But you're Naruto-kun. Just Naruto-kun. No matter what anyone else makes him fee like."

A silence fell over them after that. A happier silence. It was until Hinata was reminded of something that Tsunade had told her before she left on this mission. "Naruto-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you request me specifically for this mission?"

Naruto raised his head and looked at her before grinning slightly. "Oh. That was because I was supposed to be romancing you there and back."

Hinata frowned. "I don't feel very romanced," she pointed out. "I don't feel very romanced at all."

"Well I managed to get you in my arms didn't I?"

"I'm only using you for your body," she said, cuddling herself closer to him, the heat in her cheeks giving her slight pause to her response. "You have a very warm body."

And it was. The way his arms were encasing her were making sure her skin was getting warmed up quite nicely. She gave his head an appreciative pat.

"You just said I was hot. Thanks."

"Ridiculously so. You managed to charm my pants off of me."

Naruto looked very pleased. "Why yes I did. And on the first date too."

Hinata pursed her lips slightly in thought before she shook her head. "I can't tell that to my friends. They would never let it go. I want another first date."

"How about..." he said smoothly. "...we stop by the ruins of Whirlpool village. It's where my mum came from and its on the way home."

Glancing at Naruto's overly innocent expression, she realised the reason he took a detour on their journey home. She giggled. "...You sly fox."

"Guilty," he said, not looking guilty at all.

She locked her arms around his shoulders. "We should eat in this great buffet place, NekoBBQ. I heard they were good and we'll be passing them when we go there tomorrow."

There was only one thing that mattered to him. "Do they have ramen?" he inquired.

"I think so. But you're not allowed to bankrupt them."

Naruto took a while to answer and when he did, it was begrudgingly. But Hinata was proud anyways that Naruto made a resolve to be kind to the buffet owner. "Fine."

Another thought popped into his head. He and Hinata were tucked in quite comfortably under the blankets, merging their body heat to a snuggeable level. Going on a proper date would mean that they would have to get up and leave the blanket which made Naruto feel a bit stricken. He had an undressed Hinata under the blanket, although not fully, it was a good reason never to leave. Also going on a proper date would mean that... "Does this mean we have to have clothes on?" he pouted.

"Yes we have to have clothes on," she said, red in her cheeks.

He sighed. The things you do for love.


	12. Storytelling

**Day 28 - Storytelling**

* * *

It was a breezy and sunny day when they sat down in the park to have their picnic. As requested, Hinata packed numerous bowls of pork miso ramen and a light salad for herself on this carefree day. Patting down a blanket and sitting with her back against a tree, wiggling her tangled fingers while Naruto dozed contently in her lap, Hinata acknowledge that today was a very happy day for her. Not a single cloud in the sky darken her view except for a single cloud. Or what she thought was a cloud. The blot of darkness caught her attention when it grew exponentially. It developed a head, an arm, two arms, two legs with a long tail. It took her a while to realise that the tail was a long scarf and to realise that the blot was a person falling _right on top of them. _

She squeaked. Naruto cursed.

Now, Konohamaru considered himself a very skilled ninja. He had, after all, been trained by the future Rokudaime Hokage himself _and _he was the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage therefore being awesome with shinobi grace and skill was practically in his blood and upbringing. As it was, he internally patted himself on the back when he managed to land shoulder first, instead of head first, into the tree and skilfully tumble off the branches to land solidly on his butt with minimal leaves stuck in his hair and scarf. The fact that he didn't land on his head and broke his neck was something he should be commended for.

Ignoring his boss' outraged curse and his lady boss' gasp as shuffled to sitting position, Konohamaru stood up with gusto and clenched his fist in front of him. "Boss! I need your help with something you and you alone can achieve!" he declared.

Remembering his manners inbred in his noble blood, he gave a nod to his lady boss who was peeking behind the shoulder of his boss. "Lady boss."

Naruto sighed tiredly. He was in the middle of falling into what he could tell would have been a great nap on Hinata when Konohamaru interrupted. He was definitely not in a happy mood. "What do you want?" he barked.

Reciting what he had written and rehearsed thoroughly multiple times the day before hand, Konohamaru opened his mouth with sense of determination.

"..."

And left Naruto and Hinata straining their ears in the silence.

Naruto's frowned heavily. "Come on. We don't have all day you know," he growled.

"Naruto-kun be nice," Hinata sighed, giving Naruto a scratch on his head to in hopes to settle his grump before smiling softly at Konohamaru. "How may we help you Konohamaru-kun?"

A layer of red tinted on Konohamaru's cheeks and he diverted his eyes. Flashes of emotions crossed his eyes; embarrassment, uncertainty, shyness, but the last and most distinguishable of them all, determination. Konohamaru raised his eyes to meet both of them and asked heatedly:

"How do you win the heart of a Hyuga?"

The question took them both by surprise. By the severity of his actions, she expected Konohamaru to confess about some top secret S-rank mission in which he had managed to scavenged while breaking into units. She had not expected it to be about a girl but then again, considering his age, having feelings for a girl would be something equal of an S-rank mission in terms of severity.

"Huh? Win the heart of a Hyuga?" he echoed, trying on the words from his lips.

If it were any more possible, Konohamaru's cheeks turned even more bright red. "I'm serious boss," he repeated. "How did you do it? How did you get someone as good as Lady boss to go out with you?"

Hinata blushed under the flattery but Naruto only scratched his chin. "I'm not really sure what you mean by how 'I did it'. It just sort of happened you know."

Hinata sighed quietly at the lack of romantic bone in Naruto's body. It made her sigh hopelessly how he did not analyse, categorise chronologically each moment that built up to their relationship. He didn't have to do it as concisely as she did, she was a certified stalker after all, but she hoped for him to have some semblance of it. She would just have to accept that he had no sense of poetry or romanticism even if he had Sakura and Sai harping it into him during their missions. Naruto will be always his old Naruto self.

"Konohamaru-kun, maybe you should ask Tenten-san instead of Naruto-kun for something like this," she suggested.

"I have already," he replied. "I don't have an extensive weapon collection to show Hanabi though."

Face contorted into what he liked to call his 'thinking mode.' Naruto pondered on such a hard question which he felt should have been easy for him.

"Come on...," Konohamaru cried. "You must have done something that made Lady boss fall for you. I need it to charm the socks off Hanabi before that Inuzuka kid does!"

Tapping his fingers thoughtfully, Naruto considered theory. "Maybe it was my irresistible personality. I do have quite a magnetic pull and wolfish charm as Hinata liked to tell me when we-"

"He saved me from bullies," she cut in, face slightly red. "Naruto-kun was brave and kind enough to save me from bullies when we were young and I fell from there."

She would like to speak to of how he saved her with his smile but that knowledge was only for her to keep in her own heart.

Konohamaru considered this for a second before frowning. "...is that all?"

Naruto in turn, frowned as well. "What do you mean is 'is that all?'"

"Well," he shrugged the end of his scarf of one shoulder, "I mean, that's pretty _underwhelming... _ considering all these stories of Hinata jumping in to save you."

"Well, yeah she did..." To which Naruto planted quick kiss of gratitude on her lips. "I guess it's really how Hinata won my heart isn't it?"

"But I want to know how you won Lady boss' heart," he said. "Like, she jumped in front of Pain and made a frickin jutsu that saved your ass _and _jumped in to the front lines to save your ass again..."

Hinata buried her mouth in her hand to giggle, hugging herself to a Naruto who looked liked on the verge of pouting. "Yes Naruto-kun, my damsel in distress. How may I further banish your villains?"

"Hey," he said, poking his finger at Konohamaru. "I saved the whole shinobi world which Hinata is a part of which is pretty damn romantic if you ask me."

Somewhere far off, they heard bushes rustling and a voice calling out, "Where the hell are you Konohamaru?! Come back here! If you don't give me back my headband, I'm going to bloody murder you!"

Hinata's mouth dropped open. That voice belonged to her younger sister and rarely did Hanabi ever raise it above speaking level much less such an aggressive tone filled with that much killing intent. They both looked at Konohamaru who smile sheepishly at them.

Naruto whistled. "Boy, you got it bad..."

"And I need to make my grand exit," Konohamaru said as he prepared to run. "Goodbye."

"Wait Konohamaru-kun."

Konohamaru gave her his attentive eyes and ears. Hinata couldn't help but smile at the mischievous layer that lied underneath. "As lame as Naruto-kun's explanations sounds-" she ignored Naruto grumbling, "It is quite true. He didn't need to do anything considered grand to win this Hyuga's heart."

Konohamaru's brows furrowed in confusion. "Then how would I..."

"The same way he did," she told him. "I can tell you that Hyugas are undeniably attracted to loud, sneaky troublemakers like this one." Hinata tapped her respective loud, sneaky troublemaker in the nose as an example and had to angle her cheek away as he tried to nip it her jaw.

Before Konohamaru could say anything else, Hanabi's voice rang closer than before, "Konohamaru! I know you're here!"

"Got to go. Thanks for the advice guys. I'll see ya later!"

Disappearing in a smoke bomb, Hinata was quite interested to see how their relationship would develop. She had run out of scrolls to read lately and the situation with Konohamaru and Hanabi looked too cute to just ignore. She would have to dig some information when she got home tonight.

"Hey Hinata."

"Uh hm, Naruto-kun?" Resuming their picnic as if a small boy hadn't fallen out of the sky, she placed her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think Tenten showed Neji her weapons collection," he asked, wiggling his eyebrows, "or do you think Neji showed Tenten his?"


	13. Confession

**Day 31 - Confession**

* * *

It wasn't uncommon for the head of the Hyuga clan to be found in the office with the Hokage in the evenings. In fact, many had said that the head of the Hyuga clan had almost become a permanent fixture in the office from constantly sighting upon the tell tale signs of a meeting occurring the night before sprawled on the table; tea for the Hyuga, a bottle of sake for the Hokage, who had decided that the taste was strangely pleasant, and stacks of paper belonging to the topic of proposals, disputes, negotiations and agreements, all relating to Konoha's clans, which came as steadily as it was resolved. On this particular night the knock that echoed on the door was one of stress and exasperation.

"Come in."

Hinata opened the door and instantly her lips softened into a smile, the weight on her shoulders decreasing as her eyes fell upon the bristled and scruffy Hokage furiously slashing his brush across the page. He in turn smiled back at her when he looked up from his paper.

"Hey Hinata, won't be a moment," he said as his eyes switched back unto the paper. "Oh did I leave my jacket when I came at your place? I didn't realise."

It was then she remembered that she had his spare robe in her hands. Hooking the spare jacket on the coat stand near the door, she admired her own handiwork. He had let holes tear into his precious orange and black Hokage robes in the weirdest places (for instance, in the pocket that lied on the inside of his jacket.) Although he had spares, it pained Hinata to see all the teared ones in a hopeless pile in his office. That was when she had offered to mend them for him which set off a whole heap more of interactions to come. Her heart jumped in pride remembering how Naruto had asked for her help back then when dealing with clan politics. The thought of him needing her help was enough to make her sigh with joy but working with him in close proximities made her absolutely ecstatic. What started as formal meetings and discussion grew into a comfortable and casual routine. She found pleasure in talking to Naruto to wind down after a busy day and she was sure Naruto found pleasure in listening to his woes and ridiculous jokes.

The thought of his woes reminded her of her own which pulsed at her head at the absence of tea. Her hands brushed the plain teapot and she remembered wistfully her favourite floral patterned teapot which she accidentally broke the first time she brought it here to show Naruto. Still, she could remember how beautiful it was with the different shades of softly painted flowers that curled around the handle. Naruto would probably like some sake right about now so she poured it into a small glass and handed it to him. He gave her a thankful glance.

"Ahh, my sweet sake," he gratefully cooed, "You have no idea how much I needed you today."

Hinata let out a small giggle. "Careful Naruto-kun. You're starting to sound like Tsunade-sama."

"Don't worry. Ramen is the sake to the Tsunade in me." He gulped it all down in one go. "Although I can see why Tsunade is crazy about it. How was your training with Kiba and Shino?"

She went to sit on the couch beside the table, taking her shoes off and folding her legs comfortably under her. A sigh escaped her lips at the comfort that enveloped her. "Good. I managed to help Kiba-kun try to calm down the newest Inuzuka litter and that took a lot of energy. Kiba has already sworn to kill Hana for leaving the clan title to him knowing that Kiba hated the inspection process with the newest litters. I don't really blame him though, one of them chewed on my shoes."

"Pups normally chew shoes don't they?" Naruto asked offhandedly.

"Oh apologies, by litter I meant children." Hinata took a long, needed sip at her tea. "They are quite lovely children but very energetic and loud."

"Loud and energetic. Reminds me of my younger days."

Hinata smiled slightly. "You make it sounds as if we are very old. But on a different note, Shino has adapted very well to being his clan leader. I only needed to tell him a few, small tips and he controlled his meeting quite well. Shino will make an outstanding leader."

"Well he better because he has had training leading bugs for a very long time." Appearing to be finished with his paperwork, Naruto moved to sit beside her and stretch his legs in front of him. He practically radiated with heat and she was tempted to move closer and bask herself in it.

"Leading people will be quiet more complicated than bugs I hope so," she pointed out.

He grunted, "maybe." He paused to rub the back of his neck with one of his hands. "But then again some people are as annoying as the mosquitoes that fly around thinking they own the place."

There was a small comfortable pause between them before Naruto looked at her and said, "we should go up to the rooftop tonight. I heard that there was going to be Valentines fireworks."

_Oh yes, today is Valentine's day, _she thought. Honestly she forgot because she practically got her wish everyday for quite a while. But yes, going up to watch the fireworks sounded lovely to her.

Her train of thoughts took off again and she remembered what made her slightly even more stressed today. It had something to do with her secret admirer and what she felt about him or her. Her secret admirer managed to leave flowers every day for the past few months, usually with a lavender ribbon tied around it. How they managed to get past Hyuga security, she might never know and the fact that they did should make Hinata more weary about the presents she was getting but for a reason unknown to her, Hinata felt no threat when she looked at the them. Instead, the flowers were collected and pressed into a book she placed in her room.

She had thought that the flowers were random until she started noticing that it changed every week. One week she was getting daisies but then suddenly she got daffodils and then geraniums and a couple more different variations but they held no pattern. When she told Naruto this one day he had shruggingly said that maybe it meant something. Like a code, he said and that statement burrowed itself in her mind. For the past week she had been regularly visiting the library and asking Ino if they meant anything but the answers she got were unsatisfyingly short and succinct.

"Hey, what's with that face?"

Hinata snapped out of her thinking at the poetic show of concern. "Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking about something."

One look at her furrowed eyebrows and he knew what was plaguing her mind. "Does it have something to do with that admirer of yours?"

Somewhere deep down, she knew that Naruto had decided that she would talk about her theories. So she complied. She angled her body towards him. "I have been thinking about what you said to me last time and I went to Ino about it. Still what they meant, the flowers meant, makes no sense to me."

"Like what?" he encouraged her, "What makes no sense to you?"

"Well the same type of flower was sent to me for a whole week before it changes usually, tied in the same lavender ribbon. That is not particularly new but I think that this was because they wanted me to remember the type specifically but when I did researched it with Ino, their meanings had no common link. It is as if..." a look of deep thought took over her features, "...as if it was trying to tell me a story."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "And if.. And if they were trying to tell you a story, what would you think it was?"

Hinata frowned and shook her head. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" he inquired. "Not even an inkling?"

She shook her head again in confirmation.

His features looked thoughtful, as if he was carefully picking out the correct words for what he wanted to say. "How about we try to string this story together? We have a couple of minutes before the fireworks start."

She looked unsure whether to dwell to deeply upon this but this has been plaguing her mind for a long time and two minds was always better than one isn't it?

"My first set of flowers were camellias," she stated, "which meant perfection, good luck or admiration. Considering that this person is my admirer, all three would be fitting but the third one would be the best I guess."

"Okay." He nodded. "So we've got admiration and it's probably between two people. What's next?"

"Next were daisies which stood for innocence, purity and loyal love."

"Innocence and purity..." he muttered. "Could this mean that their love was when they were innocent and pure or it was innocent and pure."

Love when innocent and pure... "Oh." She realised. "Admiration from when they were young, when they were innocent and pure."

She wasn't aware they were getting closer but she felt Naruto play with a strand of her hair, signaling her to continue. Naruto has been doing more of that these past couple of months, just casual touches midst their conversation. Sometimes her hair, sometimes her arm, sometimes her leg. No matter how small, each touch left her head slightly dizzy. Intoxication wasn't to blame because heaven knows that it is almost impossible to get Naruto drunk.

"Next were moss rosebuds and daffodils." Her eyes followed his fingers which caressed her hair and felt the urge to move closer to him to see if he would caress her skin the same way. "Moss rosebuds meant confessions of love but daffodils are either, unrequited love or praise. That one is very ambiguous because it could fit with both context."

Naruto pressed his lips in tight line. "You're right, that's a bit confusing. A confession with praise or a confession with that ended up being unrequited. What's the next one?"

"The next ones were geraniums which meant stupidity. It fits together with the coming week's which were purple hyacinths. Purple hyacinths meant asking for apologies or sorrow."

He chuckled, fiddling Hinata's hair between his fingers idly. "So they messed up and then they're saying sorry."

"I think so. The next ones were a bit disjointed with the last one but they were much more happier. They were yellow roses and irises. When I took them to Ino they both had friendship in common. Friendship or Joy in friendship."

"Hm.." Naruto hummed. "Maybe they want to be your friend."

"Maybe..." she breathed out. "But the last one threw me off a bit. They've been sending me variegated tulips for the past week which meant..."

"Meant what?" he encouraged.

"..It meant beautiful eyes." Her voice got smaller towards the end and her cheeks heated. Maybe it was the fact that her admirer called her eyes beautiful that made her blush but she knew for a fact that the way Naruto was looking at her also the reason. His blue, blue eyes were trained on her intensely and she had to stop the urge from sliding down the couch to avoid it. The way he was looking at her made heat pool at the bottom of her belly and roll a wave of shiver through her body simultaneously.

He whispered something under his breath but she could only catch the last bit. "...indeed."

Which made the rest of her body turn blazing red and her heart beat accelerate like a motor boat and she almost forgot what stressed her this morning. She tried to raise her voice although she could only hear the erratic beating of her heart. "I didn't receive any flowers today," she told him. "That's worrying me because that might mean they are trying to see me in real life. It doesn't feel like the story is completed..."

"Don't worry about it. You have the whole of Konoha looking after you," he said offhandedly. "Oh by the way Hinata, I have something for you."

He stood up and walked to his desk, untangling his fingers from her hair beforehand and making her miss its warmth. He opened the drawers and shuffled the items inside. Grinning widely, he told her to close her eyes and no byakugan. She complied with his orders but he never said she wasn't allowed to peak. Sadly, before she could slip a look through her fingers, he was already in front of her.

"Ta da!"

And she gasped in delight at the sight before her. In his hands was her favourite tea pot, cracked but still standing. Lines pierced through the painted flowers that curled around the handle but it was still undeniably, the teapot that she loved dearly. All held together by glue. Realising there were tears in her eyes, she quickly wiped them away. She gave him one of her brilliant smiles which made Naruto's heart almost stop in its brilliance and placed it onto the couch.

No words could describe how happy she was. "Thank you so much Naruto-kun." She stood up and bowed to him in that gracefully way of hers. Not even Naruto expected what came next. Without warning, Naruto was tackled into a hug by Hinata who had jumped onto him with her arms gripping him tightly. It was so sudden that all ninja instincts left him and he fell to the floor with an oomph and Hinata on top of him. Her hair billowed around them and so did his edges of his Hokage robes.

"Thank you so so much, Naruto-kun," she said as she blushed from head to toe. "I really appreaciate what you've..."

And Hinata never finished that sentence because something caught her eye. Something that lied in a pocket on the inner side of Naruto's Hokage robes that she hadn't notice beforehand until she saw that there was a stray ribbon tied around it. A lavender ribbon.

Naruto smiled at her. "You going to finish that sentence Hina..." Then his eyes followed hers and his smiled dropped significantly.

A million thought whizzed through her head and time slowed down into a standstill. She heard blood rushing through her, felt her limbs go numb and she almost stopped breathing as the story they tried to weave earlier went through again and again. It made sense to her now. She understood. She understood all of it. A young innocent, unrequited love. Stupidity. Forgiveness. Beautiful eyes. And the newest development that lied in the pocket of the inner side of Naruto's robes. It's meaning honed in her mind through hours of meticulous study and research. Now the sight burnt at her.

An Ambrosia flower tied with lavender.

_Mutual and reciprocated love. _

And she wanted to cry. She wanted to cry because of her heart swelling up and the joy that threatened to drown her. Waves of happiness crashed consumed her, reminding her that every tear, every fear, ever moment of heartbreak was leading up to this. A ragged breath couldn't stop the tears from pricking her eyes and she wanted to cry because she loved him and he loved her too.

Naruto saw the tears in her eyes and felt panic creeping up. "Hinata, I didn't mean to- I mean I'm so-"

But his words were cut off as she took his face and kissed him with all her might. The tears that ran down her cheeks detract from the heat of their lips slanting together and soon he raised his hands and cupped her face and melted with her.

Still their story was not completed, it might never be. However Hinata knew she loved him and now knows he loved her too. That was all that mattered.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you guys for you amazing support and reviews. They are what keeps me motivated to write and shows me how important it is to write reviews for other authors. I hope you had enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

**Ambrosia** – Reciprocated love

**Purple Hyacitnh** – I am sorry, Please forgive me, Sorrow

**Yellow Rose** – Joy, Friendship

**Geranium** – Stupidity

**Moss rosebud** – Confessions of love

**Camellia -** Admiration; Perfection; Good Luck, Gift to a Man

**Daffodils** - Regard; Unrequited Love; You're the Only One; The Sun is Always Shining When I'm with You

**Daisy** - Innocence; Loyal Love; I'll Never Tell; Purity

**Iris** - Fleur-de-Lis, Emblem of France: Your Friendship Means So Much to Me; Faith; Hope; Wisdom and Valour; My Compliments

**Variegated Tulip** - Beautiful Eyes


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